


A Reunion of Friends

by thequidditchpitch_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Angst, Friendship, Post-Hogwarts, Romance, The Quidditch Pitch: Leaving Feast
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-11-26
Updated: 2007-01-10
Packaged: 2018-10-27 14:46:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 38,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10811142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thequidditchpitch_archivist/pseuds/thequidditchpitch_archivist
Summary: It has been five years since Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny have been together. Now Hermione has invited everyone over for a night to try to bring everyone back.





	1. Harry's Letter

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Annie, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [The Quidditch Pitch](http://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Quidditch_Pitch), which went offline in 2015 when the hosting expired, at a time I was not able to renew it. I contacted Open Doors, hoping to preserve the archive using an old backup, and began importing these works as an Open Doors-approved project in April 2017. Open Doors e-mailed all authors about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact us using the e-mail address on [The Quidditch Pitch collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/thequidditchpitch/profile).

_Dear Harry,_ _  
  
_It has been almost five years since we have all been together at once, but what I hear about you is you never leave your home anymore. I have already sent letters to Ron and Ginny and they have agreed to come if you do. We all want to see you again. I would love you to come and recall some of the good times we had. I was thinking we could get together at Halloween in two weeks. Please send your response back with my owl._  
  
_Your friend,_  
_Hermione__  
  
  
"Recall the good times?" Harry asked himself after re-reading the letter for the fourth time.  
  
Harry sipped from his morning coffee pondering his thoughts over seeing everyone again after so long of being around no one, but himself and Hedwig.  
  
'It would be good to get out and see them all again. Merlin knows you hardly leave the house as it is now.' A voice inside of his head reminded him.  
  
'Yes, but Ginny will be there.'  
  
'So, you never let her know how you felt, did you?' The voice retorted.  
  
"No, but if I found out she was married now and had a family I would never forgive myself that I didn't take that chance." Harry spoke aloud this time.  
  
'And whose fault would that be, I wonder?'  
  
"Voldemort, that's who!"  
  
'Oh, really? I was under the impression you were scared shitless of her six brothers,' the voice chided.  
  
"Scared? I wasn't afraid of them! They were like my family back then," Harry replied, still speaking aloud.  
  
'Don't kid yourself that way, Harry, if-'  
  
"Just shut it, okay! I'll go if you'll just zip it for one bloody day!"  
  
Silence invaded his head as he scrawled a short inadequate response on a scrap of parchment.  
  
_Hermione,_

__  
I'll be there around six. I hope dinner will be served! Just kidding.  
  
Harry  
  
'It was crap, but who cares really, my people skills have always been like that.' Harry thought to himself as he tied the "letter" to Hermione's owl and sent him on his way after letting the owl drink a bit of water.   
  
After sending the owl on its way, Harry returned to the kitchen table and attempted to read the Daily Prophet, but thoughts of his friends kept returning and breaking his concentration.  
  
Had it been five years already? Well, Hermione was never wrong it seemed, so if she says five years, well, it must have been. He had talked a little with Ron at the Ministry two years ago when Ron was promoted to Head of Magical Games and Sports.  
  
He had not seen Hermione in almost as long it seemed because he could not recall clearly the last place he saw her. Then there was Ginny... the last time he saw her was at her graduation from Hogwarts. She had hugged him and he had given her a small kiss on the cheek before disappearing from public view a few hours later.  
  
Harry had given no excuse and rarely responded to his mail. After awhile it seemed everyone had just given up on trying to contact him by any means. Most of the post he received lay unopened in the bottom drawer of his desk in his study where he spent most days just sitting and looking out of the window. It was mere chance that he had opened Hermione's letter this morning.  
  
Harry tossed the Prophet aside as a lost cause and knocked back the rest of his coffee before heading out for a walk in the cool morning air to try and clear his thoughts. In two weeks, he would be back again with everyone else to relive all these memories, all of which he wanted to forget in the first place. 

  
'Well, Mr. Know-It-All conscience, where are you now with your words of wisdom?' Harry thought as he walked toward a stream that marked the end of his property.  
  
Silence was the answer he received.  
  
'What am I going to do in two weeks’ time when I get to Hermione's home?' He continued when he got no response.  
  
'Toss you heart on the table?' his conscience spoke at last.  
  
"Oh, there you are. I knew you couldn't keep it quiet for a whole day. And no, I don't plan on tossing anything on the table."  
  
'Well, keep your damn moping about for Ginny quiet or do something about it! I thought we were in Gryffindor, the proud and brave.'  
  
"My courage and bravery disappeared with Voldemort," Harry replied.  
  
'A likely excuse coming from a man who still enjoys flying his broom at break neck speed and doing high risk maneuvering once up in the air.'  
  
"I liked it better when you were quiet, I think."  
  
'Why, because I tell the truth without polishing things up?'  
  
"No, you just get on my nerves!" Harry grunted.  
  
'Well, next time you want an opinion or advise from me make sure you take it,' The voice said before leaving Harry to his owns thoughts again.   
  
"Great, I've alienated my own damn conscience," Harry said to himself before sitting on a rock next to the stream and watching the sunrise fully into the sky.  
  
”I guess it's time to open a few of the letters Ron, Hermione and Ginny sent to me before we all get together so I can at least answer some of the questions about why I disappeared. “  
  
'I'd say it was!' the voice said suddenly.  
  
"You again, I thought you were taking the rest of the day off to let me drown in self-pity."  
  
'You’re drowning whether I stay quiet or not.'  
  
"Too right." Harry said getting to his feet and returning towards his home.  
  
'What you need to do, Harry, is go through all your letters you've never opened along with all your effects from school and then you'll be all set to tell your story without too many 'ers' that you like to spit out when talking.'  
  
"Will you give me peace while I try to that?"   
  
'Perhaps, but no promises.'   
  
Harry entered his home and headed for the stairs that would lead him to his study where he keep most of the things he wanted to forget, but never really could.


	2. In Harry's Study

Harry opened the door to his study slowly, as if some creature was waiting on the other side to punish him for not doing anything about his disappearance earlier, walked past where Hedwig was perched atop her cage sleeping silently and ran a finger over her soft feathers before sitting behind his desk.   
  
Pulling a small key from his jacket pocket Harry opened the bottom drawer of his desk where he kept letters he had received after going into hiding from everyone. Also scattered about the drawer were clippings from the Daily Prophet announcing the downfall of Voldemort by Harry, articles about people he knew while still in Hogwarts and Ginny's graduation announcement and photo.  
  
Harry pulled these last from the drawer and scanned over them, especially the photo of Ginny, before laying them aside and arranging the letters by who they were from. He pulled open the top drawer and retrieved a quill and parchment so he could at least attempt to keep up with some of what he read and answer what needed answering the most for Hermione, Ron and Ginny come Halloween night.  
  
"OK, so where do I start? Er...Ron's letters were hardly ever long and usually to the point." Harry muttered to himself. "Besides he only sent about four."  
  
Harry picked up the top letter, with a slightly trembling hand, and opened Ron's letter.  
  
_Harry,  
  
What happened to you last night during Ginny's graduation party? You were there talking with Remus and in the next moment gone. Mum has been going spare wondering what happened. You know if you did not want to stay, mate, you could have at least let me or Hermione know you were headed off. Send us an owl letting us know you are fine, Harry.  
  
Ron  
_  
Harry laid the letter down remembering that night at the Burrow.  
  
"Remus was asking how I had managed to take down Voldemort after Ron, Hermione and Ginny had been knocked out and I panicked, excused myself to the loo and walked out towards the Weasleys' low garden wall." Harry spoke softly while writing bits down on the parchment. "When I got there I could hear Mr. and Mrs. Weasley talking about the same thing Remus wanted to know about, so I did what I thought was best in order to avoid awkward questions; I Apparated home and hid like a fool."  
  
Harry hung his head after laying the quill aside, trying to fight back too many memories at once, took a deep breath and looked at another letter. This one appeared to be from Mrs. Weasley, but Harry could not find enough courage to read the letter.  
  
Mrs. Weasley had passed away almost three years ago after Arthur had been killed in a Muggle accident while investigating a problem just outside London. Arthur had simply been standing too close to a Muggle road when two cars got into each other sending them off the roadway and into Mr. Weasley. Molly, most said, passed away around eight months later from a broken heart.  
  
Harry put Molly's letter back in the bottom drawer and picked one from Hermione's stack. To his surprise it was not a "Where are you?" letter.  
  
_Harry,  
  
I know you've had a hard time since that day when you met Voldemort for the last time, but you must look at it this way. Harry, you have saved more lives in killing what wasn't really a man anymore, than what were lost that day outside Hogsmeade. I know you will not ever take me up on the offer, but if you need someone to talk to besides yourself, someone to try to help you cope with some of your burden, I am always here just like when we were in school. Only you can ask for help with your depression.  
  
Your friend,   
Hermione_  
  
'True depression was part of it, but in all honesty I may very well have had a breakdown of some kind.' Harry thought trying to bring all his memories of that day outside Hogsmeade to the surface.  
  
*~*  
  
_The battle had been raging for more than hour now, but to Harry it seemed like it was days before he made it to the top of the hill that would have led him to the cave where he, Ron and Hermione had met with Sirius in his fourth year had he kept going. His goal was in sight now with most of the Death Eaters killed, captured, or sent running in fear for their lives._  
  
Voldemort stood, watched and waited for Harry to finally come to him.  
  
"Well, Harry it seems we meet again for what will surely be the last time." Voldemort said in his cold voice as Harry approached, flanked by Ron on the right and Ginny on the left, and Hermione on Ron's right.  
  
"It will be the last, but not for me!" Harry said in a commanding tone.  
  
"Maybe, but you will stand alone when we duel."   
  
Voldemort raised his wand and brought it down in a slashing motion that sent Ron, Hermione and Ginny flying backwards away from Harry and tumbling back down the hill. Harry could hear every thud and crack their bodies made as they fell. Assuming the worse Harry rushed towards Voldemort, planting his shoulder into his midsection knocking the laugh from Voldemort lips.  
  
"So, you would rather play a Muggle game than to take me seriously?" Voldemort asked sputtering from being winded.  
  
"No more games!" Harry yelled pointing his wand directly at Voldemort and muttered an incantation.  
  
Voldemort snorted a laugh as the spell hit him and nothing happened.  
  
"Potter, whatever you tried failed and now-" Voldemort gagged on his proclamation and his skin began to bubble and boil. His skin began to melt away from his body leaving ragged hole's that allowed his skeleton to show through. His body began to convulse and jerk in uncontrollable gestures. Voldemort sank to his knees, tried to speak and then fell on his face dead.  
  
"Love. Dumbledore was right; it was love that would be his downfall." Harry muttered, swaying a little on his feet and then running down the hill where his friends still lay motionless. Harry dropped to his knees, feeling more light-headed, beside Ginny, picked up her limp hand, trying to feel a light pulse before finally succumbing to unconsciousness himself.  
  
He awakened three days later to find Ron, Hermione and Ginny were going to be fine except for a few broken bones and sprains from their fall. And Harry would be fine himself after a few more days of rest. The Healers had told him that the spell he used must have drained his magic to a low level that had caused his blackout.   
  
*~*  
  
Harry raised his head from his desk when Hedwig let out a soft hoot and flew across to him, nestling her head against his.  
  
"Thanks, girl." Harry said rubbing Hedwig's feathers and letting her nip affectionately at his fingers before he stood to leave his study for the day.  
  
'Memories are sometimes worse than what we had to live through.' Harry thought to himself as he walked outside for a bit of fresh air after spending half of the day upstairs. 'I guess it won't be such a bad thing to remember the past at least for one night.' 


	3. Hallowe

'Damn memories are getting about as bad as that damn conscience of mine.' Harry thought on the morning of Halloween after having another night of restless sleep, filled with nightmares that had seemed to have taken over his nightlife.

Harry poured himself out of bed and descended the stairs to get a little bit of inspiration from his morning coffee; hopefully he could rouse himself enough to get a shower and a halfway decent shave in before the evening "festivities" started. As Harry sat down at the table, Errol, the Weasley owl, flew into the kitchen and crashed into the doorway leading to the basement.

"Bloody bird still can't see straight," Harry said picking the owl up and laying him on the table to retrieve the letter tied to his leg. "After all these years of crash landing you would think you would knock your eyes uncrossed." He continued after taking the letter and giving the owl a soft poke in the ribs.

Errol hopped up, hooted softly and gave Harry a questioning look before stealing a piece of toast and retaking to flight out of the window.

"You could have hung around a bit to catch your breath before heading all the way back to the Burrow!" Harry yelled after him as he was zooming across the yard. Errol did a kind of dumb looking loop-di-loop before catching a breeze and soaring higher into the air. "Stupid bird won't make it all the way back without crashing again." He muttered as he opened the letter that could only be from Ginny.

_Dear Harry,_

After all of these years you have finally decided to at least attempt to come out of hiding in your own home. Let me say that I have been looking forward to seeing you again. It rather brings back the butterflies of my younger days of fawning over you. But back to the point here. After dinner tonight at Hermione's I want you to come out with me to anywhere you choose because I have some things I would like to discuss with you in private before you run back to Godric's Hollow to live out the rest of your days in solitude. Just let me know tonight, Harry.

Love,  
Ginny

"Gin...Ginny wants to see me for something that is private?" Harry asked himself after reading the letter a second time. "I've rarely talked to her about anything other than Quidditch."

'Though you should have said a bit more to the girl.' His inner voice spoke.

"Please don't start! These past two weeks have been nice and quiet without you chiming in every five seconds," he grunted refolding the letter and slipping it back into its envelope then into his pocket.

Harry drank the rest of his coffee in silence, and scanned through the morning edition of the Daily Prophet before heading upstairs to try and get himself cleaned up for tonight's dinner with his old friends. Now, with the thoughts of meeting privately with Ginny later tonight or tomorrow morning, Harry thought he saw a glimmer of hope open into his mind.

*~*

Hermione bustled around her kitchen constantly checking up on everything she was currently cooking. Though being one of the brightest witches in ages, she was still terrible in the kitchen even with the assistance of magic; trying out several Muggle devices seemed to make things even worse. Ginny and Ron were due for lunch anytime now and if all the things Ron said about Ginny being a great cook were true then maybe she could get a helping hand before ruining everything.

"They're here!" Hermione squeaked in surprise when the doorbell rang. She untied her apron, tossed across a chair, and hurried to the front door to greet her friends. "Ron! Ginny!" She blurted out as she threw open the door and pulled them both into quick hugs.

"Hermione! Bloody hell it hasn't been that long since we saw you last!" Ron said returning Hermione's hug.

"It's been almost three months, Ronald, since you two have been by here," Hermione replied still holding his hands. "Well...now that you're here let’s have a quick sit down lunch." She stammered releasing Ron's hands after realising she had probably held on too long.

"Yes...er...well lead the way." Ron muttered trying to compose himself and giving Ginny a warning look about her suppressed giggles.

"So do you think he'll be here tonight?" Hermione asked towards the end of lunch.

"He'll show, Hermione. If he sent you a response, you know he'll live up to it." Ginny replied.

“ea, ‘ione, e’ff e ere” Ron said through his mouthful of food.

“Ron, could you at least swallow before talking? It is quite disgusting you know,” Hermione asked while Ron just shrugged his response. “You have the table manners of a troll did you know that?” Ron grinned and nodded before tucking back into his plate.

“Come on, Hermione, let’s leave the troll to his lunch and check up on what you’ve cooked so far. Maybe I can help out?” Ginny said sliding her chair back.

“Could you help me, Ginny?” Hermione asked getting to her feet.

“Of course! Mum taught me everything I know! There’s not a kitchen I couldn’t get around in.”

The girls left Ron to his lunch and headed toward the kitchen.

“Do you think Harry will be too withdrawn into himself to even try and talk about the past?” Hermione asked.

“Harry was withdrawn most of his life, Hermione, never having a family that cared if he lived or died; but he’ll be able to recall enough to hopefully get him out of his shell.” Ginny replied checking out the Steak and Kidney Pie in the oven. “You knew him better than most, Hermione. Besides he’ll show up tonight feeling probably a little apprehensive from being away from normal life for so long, but we’ll get him over that hump in the road.” She continued leaning against the counter.

“You’re right, Ginny, I’m just nervous. I just hope he hasn’t regressed so far that he’s like he was in our fifth year.”

“No, I hope he hasn’t resorted back to yelling at everything that moves, but probably not. You have to remember, most of his problems then were hormones and Dumbledore not sharing what he knew sooner.”

“How do you know that, Ginny?” Hermione asked tossing a salad.

“Well, one of the few talks we had while still in school was toward the end of your seventh year, just before Voldemort attacked Hogsmeade. He told me about the Prophecy, and he said he finally understood what the ‘power was the Dark Lord knew not’ was. He gave my hand a loving squeeze and a soft kiss before heading into his dorm.”

“Well, Ron and I knew about the Prophecy back at the beginning of our sixth year, but he didn’t say anything about knowing what the weapon was. Anyway-” Hermione stopped talking and looked toward the front door where the bell was now ringing.

“He’s early!” Ginny said while Hermione hurried to the door.

*~*

Harry stepped from his bathroom and into the bedroom where his t-shirt lay on the bed.

‘If you were any cleaner, Potter, you would literally squeak,’ the voice said suddenly.

“Please not now! All I want to do is finish getting ready and head out to Hermione’s a little early,” he replied and went about pulling his shirt on, then slipping on his trainers.

‘Stupid hair will never lay flat!’ Harry thought as he gave himself a once over in his mirror making sure he had not forgotten anything.

He knew that he was not expected until after five, but he felt he needed to be there before then. He just needed to make sure he could take on the burden that was awaiting him. He could slip in, make sure all was going to be OK and if it was not give Ginny a time and place to meet and then leave.

‘Some hero you are, wanting to get there early so you can check out the way things may go, and if they’re not going to your liking then you’ll split.’ His conscience spoke up as he left his bedroom.

Harry ignored this comment and walked toward his kitchen door that lead out into a large field, where he Disapparated and reappeared outside Hermione’s home. With a trembling, apprehensive hand, Harry reached up and rang the doorbell.


	4. Hallowe

"Trick or treat," Harry said as Hermione opened the door.

"Harry! It has been too long! How are you? What brings you here so soon?" Hermione rambled while hugging Harry.

"Let him breathe, Hermione, he's only just gotten here! You've got all night to quiz him." Ron spoke up coming into the foyer. "All right there, Harry?"

"Yea, mate. Thanks for that." Harry said shaking Ron's hand and nodding his head towards Hermione who was bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet.

"Why don't we have a seat in the lounge for some tea?" interjected Hermione, beaming and pointing the way.

Harry followed her and Ron into a tidy looking sitting room with a large picture window, looking out over the Scottish coastline. He took a seat on an overstuffed sofa, still looking around the room, taking in the photos, taken of them all from Hogwarts, lining the mantle above the fireplace and a few scattered across the walls.

"How have you been, Harry?" Ron asked as Hermione left the room.

"OK, I guess, I've given up the bottle."

"Finally saw you were drowning in it?"

"It's still hard, Ron, I try not to drink anything stronger than Butterbeer anymore so...er...no slip-ups." Harry replied giving Ron a serious look. "How are you and Ginny?"

"Gin is good, still runs her deli in Torquay. Me, I’m still running the Magical Games and Sports Division at the Ministry. What can I say? I get to go to all of the Quidditch matches I want for free, and with the Cannon's finally leading the League and two wins away from the English Cup, I'm out there quite a bit." Ron answered. "You get out on your broom much?"

"Whenever I get the chance, I do a few laps around Godric's Hollow..." Harry trailed off as Hermione came back in with the tea followed by Ginny.

Ginny stepped into the room and walked straight up to Harry. "Hello, Harry," she said reaching for his hands.

"Ginny...er...I've been...er...wanting to talk...with you." Harry mumbled standing up as Ginny reached for his hands and pulled him into a hug.

"Don't mention the note I sent in front of everyone," she whispered into his ear and continued when she felt him nod slightly. "Are you doing OK?"

'I could get lost in those eyes with him just staring at me like that.' Ginny thought to herself.

"As good as can be expected I guess," he replied still holding on to Ginny and looking her in the eyes. "Tomorrow OK with you?" Harry whispered and when she nodded her reply, he released his hug hesitantly and sat back down with Ginny next to him.

'Is it me or did it just heat up a bit in here?' he thought as she sat down next to him.

Ron and Hermione exchanged glances at each other about the scene they just witnessed between Harry and Ginny. Hermione smiled when Ron nodded and went back to filling cups with tea.

 

*~*

Dinner was mostly a silent affair, with Hermione trying to get Harry to talk about some things that happened during their school years, but it was not until after the meal that Hermione posed a wrong question.

"Harry, you're not still feeling guilty about killing Voldemort are you? Because if you are-"

"How dare you presume that I would get over something like that, Hermione? I killed another person regardless of who it was!" Harry nearly yelled.

"But you weren't the only one who did. Remus killed Fenrir Greyback-"

"And where is he? Hiding somewhere in Ireland with Tonks."

"He is there trying to find a cure for Lycanthropy, Harry. Malfoy killed his own father-" Hermione tried before being stopped by Harry again.

"Draco is in hiding too, if you hadn't noticed! Git though he is, he did try to make things easier for us." Harry said still trying to match Hermione.

"Neville got Bellatrix Lestrange and he's not hiding! He's the Professor of Herbology at Hogwarts now!" Hermione said, slowly getting angry with Harry.

"There's always one who can cope better than others, Hermione! He has been waiting for the opportunity to get revenge for his parents just as I was, but there’s a difference between Neville and I! It should have been me that breathed a sigh of relief once the bastard was gone! But was it? No! I get stuck with my damnable noble heart and ability to love and with that comes the grief and shame of being a murderer, Hermione!"

"Harry, mate, why don't you just take a time out for a second-" Ron tried to say before Harry turned his wrath over.

"Me? Your girlfriend started this mess! I should have stayed home, but my conscience would have driven me mad just like she is!" Harry roared. "If you'd wake up a bit yourself, you could see what's right in front of you!"

"Harry...I just wanted you to calm down. Come on, let's take a walk outside and let everything settle down, OK?" Ron said trying to calm Harry down enough to get him to stop yelling.

Harry took a deep breath, looked over at Hermione who had her head bowed and Ginny who had tears on her face. "All right, Ron, lead the way."

"Look, Ron, I shouldn't have said those things about you and Hermione. It's just that being alone for so long has made me a bit edgy." Harry told Ron as they walked toward Hermione's flower garden where a bench was sitting.

"No problems, Harry. I just think you need to clear your mind about a few things that’s all. Like you said, being locked away alone for a few years have made you a bit grouchy." Ron said putting a hand on Harry's shoulder. "You know how Hermione always has to know everything. She just made a mistake in asking the wrong thing at the wrong time."

"When did you get so smart?" Harry asked with a smile.

"Living with Ginny these past few years has helped. I have one question for you though, Harry. You told me a few weeks after Mum's funeral that you were there, but no one ever remembers seeing you."

"The Invisibility Cloak. I sat in the back and left right after. I didn't want to bother the family grief. I had just gotten myself dry and I thought if I made myself known I would have a set back."

"Harry, we would have helped you over that if you would have just admitted what was wrong. I knew you were having a drinking problem that day we talked when I got my promotion. But water under the bridge, mate." Ron told Harry still with his hand on his shoulder. "Now what you need to do is go back in there and just be Harry, the one Hermione is trying to remember, the Harry that is apparently gone-"

"I'm not gone just...just under a little stress."

"A little?" Ron asked laughing. "I'd hate to see a lot of stress on you then, mate."

*~*

Back inside found Ginny consoling Hermione as best she could.

"He's changed so much, Ginny; I just can't figure him out now." Hermione said still trying to choke back tears.

"You know, Hermione, he actually hasn't changed. He has been alone for a while and his feelings about seeing everyone has him off guard. So, even though you shouldn't have brought up Voldemort, something else would have set him off," Ginny said rubbing Hermione's shoulders. "He probably needed setting off that way to clear his head, so maybe you did him a favour."

"I don't possibly see what you mean by him getting angry can mean clearing his head out, but somehow I understand it."

Ginny was cut off from explaining her point even more by Harry and Ron returning into the house from their extended walk through Hermione's garden.

"Hermione, Ginny, Ron. I just want to say I'm sorry for my outburst and will understand if you want me to go, since I ruined your reunion of sorts tonight." Harry said apologetically when he came back into the dining room with his head hung.

"Oh, Harry!" Hermione said getting up and rushing over to Harry and pulling him into a hug. "Of course I don't want you to leave! And I'm sorry for bringing up Voldemort like that without warning-."

Hermione tried to say more, but Ron and Ginny turned Hermione's hug into a group affair.

"Why don't we all just stay here tonight and try again over breakfast in the morning?" Hermione asked still in the middle of the hug and replaced her head on Ron's shoulder when everyone murmured their agreement.

"Oh, I get to have a bit of fun then." Ginny whispered in Harry ear causing him to smile.

'Just like the twins,' He thought to himself taking in the scent of Ginny's hair. 'Always up for a prank or two.'


	5. The Confession

**Chapter 5: The Confession**

Harry was awakened the next morning by the feeling of fingers being run through his hair. He opened his eyes and tried to focus on the shape kneeling next to the sofa he was lying on, clumsily reached for his glasses and almost knocked them to the floor when he felt a hand grasp his.  
  
"Here, Harry, you looked like you were having a bit of trouble there," Ginny said making sure he had a hold on his glasses before she released his hand.  
  
"Thanks, Ginny," Harry replied slipping his glasses on, sitting up and taking in her natural beauty. "Anyone else up yet?"   
  
"Not yet, but it's going to be a surprise for them when they do." She said smiling with a mischievous glint in her eyes.  
  
"What have you done?" He asked visibly trying not to smile.  
  
"Oh, a little drop of sleeping potion goes a long way."  
  
"You didn't, did you?"  
  
"Hmmm, possibly my hand just happened to slip over that last glass of wine they had last night, but you never know." Her smile widening  
  
"You know, Gin, if you smile any bigger than that your head may topple off backwards," Harry said smiling and fighting the urge to kiss her here in Hermione's sitting room.  
  
"Ha ha very funny, Potter. Now are we still meeting today?"  
  
"Yes, but I don't know where to go-"  
  
"The Three Broomsticks would be nice."  
  
"All right, we will-"  
  
"RON!" Hermione screamed followed by "HERMIONE!" by Ron.  
  
"What did you do?" asked Harry trying not to laugh.  
  
"It was something Fred and George always wanted to do to them." Ginny replied with a naughty smile playing on her lips.  
  
"GINNY!" Ron and Hermione yelled at the same time.  
  
"You want to see?" Ginny asked leaving the room and heading for the stairs.  
  
Harry followed her up the stairs to the first landing where she was waiting to open what must have been Hermione's bedroom door.  
  
"What did we...YOU do Ginny?" Ron grumbled when she and Harry entered the room.  
  
"Me?" Ginny tried innocently.  
  
"Yes you! Putting me and Hermione in the same bed while were asleep, and then putting us in this state of undress to match!" Ron continued getting redder and redder.  
  
"It wasn't me! You two were all over each other last night in the dining room, weren't they, Harry?"  
  
"Yea, they were." Harry sputtered, laughing.  
  
"So, you were in on this too, were you? I thought were you my best mate."  
  
"I am and no, I didn't do anything. Where is Hermione by the way?" Harry asked looking around the room.  
  
"In the bathroom! She ran in there when she saw how much she didn't have on, thanks to you two! I will get you for this, Ginny, if it’s the last thing I'm ever able to manage in this life!" Ron yelled while Ginny just smiled and closed the door.  
  
"Fancy an early arrival to Hogsmeade, Harry?" She asked taking his arm. "He'll never be able to return the favour; by the way, he's never been able to in the past for the other things I've embarrassed him with."  
  
"Let's get out here before he storms out of bed." Harry answered putting his hand on top hers.  
  
"Don't worry; he'll have to get some clothes on first. He was totally starkers under that quilt, but Hermione I was a little softer on...she was only topless." Ginny said matter of factly before they Apparated into the safe zone in Hogsmeade.  
  
*~*  
  
Harry and Ginny made their way through the crowd of people on the high street and into the Three Broomsticks, where Harry approached Madame Rosmerta for a private area in which he and Ginny could talk.  
  
Rosmerta led them over to a staircase that was recessed just enough not to be seen unless pointed out and up into a narrow hallway with two doors, one on the left and one on the right. She stopped and pulled out a key, unlocked the door on the right and led them into what was a small dining room that must have normally been reserved for parties that wanted to keep out of the main thoroughfare of patrons that dined and drank in the pub every night.  
  
"Will this do?" She asked. "Welcome back, Mr. Potter, it has been a long time since you've been in," Rosmerta continued when Harry nodded his approval at the room. "I'll be back in a moment to take your orders." And she headed out, closing the door behind her.  
  
Ginny sat at the table while Harry started walking around the room looking at photos of wizarding celebrities that must have dined in the room they were now using. Harry took a seat across from Ginny and was about to speak when Rosmerta re-entered carrying flatware and napkins.  
  
"What can I get you two this morning?" She asked separating the items and dividing them between Harry and Ginny.  
  
"Bacon, eggs, toast and an orange juice for me, please." Harry answered almost too quickly.  
  
"I'll have the same." Ginny replied giving the barmaid a small smile.  
  
Rosmerta gave a curt nod and left the two alone again.  
  
"So, Harry, I want to know the truth about how you've been." Ginny said seriously, looking Harry directly in the eyes. "Because from what I hear from Ron, you had a bit of a drinking problem before hitting the proverbial rock bottom."  
  
"Yea, what Ron said about that is true. I was probably going through a bottle of Firewhiskey a day until I heard about your parents, and then everything just came flooding back to me in moment of clarity."  
  
"That is what I thought. This morning with Hermione and Ron's situation, you looked almost back to normal."  
  
"How do you mean?" asked Harry.  
  
"Well, you look healthy on the outside, but your eyes, which was how we always knew what you were feeling, told a different story. But this morning there was a glint of true laughter that probably hasn't been in there for most of the last five years." She answered still looking him straight in the eyes.  
  
"No, not much to laugh at, except maybe myself for being foolish."  
  
"You weren't foolish, Harry, just scared of what you had to do with your life, and when the war was over you still didn't know what you were going to do."  
  
"You've got me all figured out, have you?" he asked with a note of sarcasm and anger in his voice.  
  
"Harry, there's no need to take that tone with me! I'm here as your ...friend and no matter what you may think I'm trying to help you," she answered with her own version of an angry tone.  
  
"I'm sorry, Ginny, I'm not used to conversation anymore, and I've never given much of an effort to correct the problem," Harry apologised quickly.  
  
"That's true, you were never the one for talking until the sun came up, but when Mum and Dad died I came up with a personal motto to try and live by: The Past is History and the Future is a Mystery."  
  
"Well, personally I just wake up trying to find peace piece by piece."  
  
"You're not doing that great of a job with it, if I may say so."  
  
Harry snorted back laughter as Madame Rosmerta came back with their plates.  
  
"Anything else while I'm here?" she asked when she placed the plates on the table. "Enjoy your breakfast, my dears," she continued when Harry and Ginny declined anything else, and left them alone once again.  
  
"So, Harry, you didn't really answer me, how are you?" Ginny asked again after Rosmerta had left.  
  
"In all honesty, not too good; but better since I've left the Firewhiskey behind me. Sometimes it is hard, and I am probably too hard on myself, but living there in the Hollow all alone can get tedious and down right depressing. I hope Hermione has the right idea with her reunion of sorts, that it will help me get out of this hole I've dug for myself."  
  
"Maybe you need to think about getting out of there and living somewhere else. Somewhere that is closer to the Burrow; you used to love coming there. Hell with everyone gone or moved away, you could live there for a bit. No one comes around much anymore, except the twins on the odd weekend when they are trying to hide from their wives."   
  
"I don't really know, Ginny, I...er-"  
  
"Just think about it, Harry, that’s all Ron and I are asking."  
  
"Ron? Why would he want me around there after all this time?" Harry asked sounding confused.  
  
"He needs a male to really talk to a lot of the time; Merlin knows he doesn't listen to me about Hermione." Ginny replied with a smile on her face.  
  
"After all this time and he still doesn't have the nerve to ask her out?"  
  
"Well, Hermione actually likes to watch him squirm with his 'problem', and Fred and George still take the mickey out of him about it from time to time."  
  
"And you, Ginny, anyone special out there waiting for you when you get home?" he asked nervously.  
  
"No, Harry, the man of my dreams hasn't come knocking on my door yet." Ginny answered, knowing exactly what Harry was trying to hide. "But, I want to ask you a serious question and I don't want to hear you yell, not once,' she continued pointing her finger straight in Harry's face.  
  
"Ok, I swear I won't yell no matter what you want to know," Harry acknowledged, knowing what she was about to ask.  
  
"I want to know exactly what you used on Voldemort on that hillside."  
  
Harry pushed his plate away from himself, hung his head for moment and took a deep calming breath before answering.  
  
"That day was hard on everyone who had the guts to stand up to him and his Death Eaters. When we marched up the hill...I knew everything was going to turn out OK because I had Ron, Hermione...and you, Ginny."  
  
"That's what I've been wondering about, Harry. For most of the battle you told me to keep my head down, but when you knew it was time to go up to face Voldemort you wanted me by your side."  
  
"I had done some research on everything I learned from Dumbledore and came across an old and interesting spell, Amor Dilectio, a spell that concentrated my love for...something into a usable force."  
  
"What was your focus for that spell, Harry?" Ginny asked hoping to get what she knew was the truth out of him.  
  
"Well...er...you see it...er...I-"  
  
"Harry, just spit it out and quit sputtering."  
  
"You. It was you." Harry said in barely a whisper.  
  
"What? You never talked to me about much of anything but Quidditch during practices."

 

"I...er...love you, Ginny, I always have, but during the war I was afraid it would put you, Ron and the rest of the Weasleys in even more danger than you already were from being 'blood traitors'."  
  
"How noble, Harry, but terribly stupid! How could you assume something like that when Ron and I were going to be standing beside you on the battlefield?" she said standing up and walking around the table to where Harry sat. "Even if that was your problem, Harry, what about after it was all over with, and I had left from Hogwarts?"

  
"Assume makes an ass out of you and me?" Harry tried with a smile, but continued on when he saw the joke was not going over too well. "I was afraid I would no longer be good enough in your or your parent's eyes, Ginny, with me ending up being a murderer."  
  
"Good enough for me in Mum and Dad's eyes? Harry, you were practically an honorary Weasley from the moment we met you on platform 9 3/4 in your first year." Ginny stated taking Harry's hands and kneeling in front of him. "Mum and Dad would have been over the moon if you had asked for my hand."  
  
"I never knew your parents felt that way about me, Ginny."  
  
"And this rubbish of you being a murderer, Harry, is crazy. You are no more a murderer than anyone else is who decided to fight on that day. You are not a murderer, Harry; you're a hero if you are to be labelled anything!"  
  
Harry hung his head knowing what he was hearing from her was the truth. He lifted his head and looked her in the face, tears starting to well up in his eyes.  
  
Ginny moved forward slightly and pulled him into a hug in which Harry greatly took the comfort she was offering, and cried openly on her shoulder. Ginny held him for what felt to her like maybe ten minutes before he raised his head and once again looked into her eyes.  
  
'Oh boy.' Harry thought. 'I'm losing my resolve.'  
  
A small gasp escaped Ginny's mouth when she realised Harry was closing the distance between herself and him. Slowly, Harry slid from his chair and kneeled in front of her, closed the distance between them and gently kissed her.  
  
"Wow," Harry whispered when he broke the kiss.  
  
"Wow is right! It was better than I had imagined and I've waited too long for that to be all," Ginny said wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him into another kiss. 

 


	6. Ron Remembers

Chapter 6: Ron Remembers

  
"You two get the bloody hell right back here!" Ron bellowed hopping down the stairs still trying to get his jeans up around his waist. "I'm not letting you get away with this one!"  
  
Ron tripped more than walked into the kitchen looking around for Harry and Ginny. He trailed from room to room with his anger rising more and more.  
  
"Ron, settle down! It was only a joke that hurt nothing but your pride! Ginny probably only did it to try and cheer Harry up." Hermione said, bumping into him coming out of the downstairs bedroom, still buttoning the top two buttons on her blouse. "You know that he hasn't had much to enjoy or laugh about in years."  
  
"Yea, but that enjoyment is at our bloody expense! As soon as they decide to come back, I am killing the both of them personally!"  
  
"You'll do no such thing, Ronald!"  
  
"Now you can't look me in the eye and say you’re not mad at those two!"  
  
"No, I'm not mad. Embarrassed, but not angered at them." Hermione answered glaring at Ron staring him straight in the eye. "Now if you are through being childish I'm due at Parliament in an-"  
  
"What do you do exactly for the Scottish Government?" Ron asked starting to cool down under Hermione's stare and sitting down at the table.  
  
"I actually work for the Ministry of Magic, but I work as an External Liaison for Muggle Relations. When The Minister of Magic goes to the Muggle Prime Minister, I take that same information to Scotland's Parliament when there is a problem Scottish Muggles need to be aware of," she answered slipping on a pair of low-heeled shoes and pulling on a navy blue blazer that matched her knee length skirt. "And before you ask there are no real problems. I just have a meeting with heads of Parliament about an incident with a rampant Welsh Green that killed several farmers’ sheep last week."

 

Ron looked dumbstruck at Hermione for moment. "Are you sure you aren't mad?"  
  
"Ron, you are so thick sometimes!" Hermione said exasperated at Ron for caring about nothing that did not involve him directly. "And just why aren't you headed for the Ministry?"  
  
"I took a couple weeks off. Quidditch won't start again until after the holidays and if the Gobstone's Club wants to have a meeting while I'm away then Wilksborough can handle it."  
  
Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron and headed for the fireplace. "Do try not to destroy my house while I'm out today. If Harry and Ginny get back before I return, let this one incident slide...for me at least." Hermione took the lid off a blue and white pot on an adjacent shelf, tossed a handful of Floo Powder into the flames, stepped in side and yelled "Parliament" before disappearing.  
  
"She's still nutters after all these years." Ron muttered when she was gone.  
  
He got up from the table, walked into Hermione's sitting room and was about to stretch out on her sofa when a brightly coloured book caught his eye lying on its side by a lamp and overlarge chair. As he made his way over to it, he noticed what it was; a large photo/scrapbook. Picking it up and ruffling through the pages, he realised she had kept up with all his, Harry's and her adventures from school starting at around their third year. Flipping to the back of the book he saw the last thing pasted in it was the article about his promotion to the Head of Magical Games and Sports almost two years ago except for a few ludicrous 'Where's Harry' articles that she had written 'HA HA' across the top of.  
  
"We don't get much coverage anymore," he said with a small laugh, starting to remember the day of his promotion when he had run into a half-pissed Harry who really did not know what he was doing.  
  
*~*  
_Ron was headed toward the Atrium of the Ministry to accept the position of Head of Magical Games and Sports from former Head, Ludo Bagman, who was resigning after ten years with the department for health reasons, when he rounded a corner and ran head long into Harry, who was visibly trying to hide from public view._  
  
"Harry! What brings you out into the real world?" Ron asked when he realised whom he almost knocked over.  
  
Harry blinked a few times opened his mouth and spoke in a slur Ron knew too well. "I came to wash you get promoted into that cushy job the Ministry bastards are giving you."  
  
"Mate, have you been drinking?" Ron questioned knowing the answer from not only his speech, but from the smell that could only be Firewhiskey.  
  
"I had a couple drinks today, why?" Harry replied swaying a little.  
  
"Come on, I think you need to sit for a moment before you lose your balance."  
  
"I's OK, Ron, no need to worry about me, but I do need that seat come to think about it." He started toward a bench that had been pushed against the wall away from the main crowd of people. "What are you doing here when they are promoting you there?" Harry asked pointing to the spot Ron was standing on and then at the podium by the Fountain of Magical Brethren.  
  
"I was about to go up there when I bumped into you, remember?"  
  
'What am I going to do with him if Hermione or Ginny spot him like this?' Ron asked himself helping Harry sit before he fell down, causing a scene. 'If they spot him in this condition we'll be pulled to bits.' Now looking at the reporters on one side of the Atrium.  
  
He spotted Hermione and Ginny already seated toward the front of the crowd of chairs that had been placed in front of the podium, whispering back and forth between themselves.   
  
"Damn it, Harry, why do you do this to yourself?' he thought still making sure no one was paying attention to what was happening with him and Harry in the corner. 'Damn, damn, damn! Just bloody brilliant for this to happen today of all days he could have shown up!'  
  
"Harry, I don't mean to be rude or anything like that, but I think it would be best if you went back home and slept a bit. Then later on maybe you could come by the Burrow for a little party among friends?" Ron knew as soon as he asked Harry would never show anywhere that may involve him being the centre of attention.  
  
"Ron, I's was here to do something, but it may be better if you do it for me, OK?" Harry slurred out.  
  
"Anything you need, mate."  
  
"Tell Ginny that I...I care for her and...and...aw bloody hell who am I kidding. Just don't tell her you saw me this way."  
  
"Sure, I'll never mention anything about today to anyone."  
  
Harry nodded his head and with a 'pop' Apparated away.  
  
"Damn, I hope he got to where he was aiming. Damn, damn, damn!" Ron muttered, shaking his head, not in disgust, but heartbreak over seeing what his friend was doing to himself.   
  
Though he told Harry, he would never tell Ginny about today he would fill her in on everything over lunch the following weekend and he literally had to hold her back from running off to try to find Harry who had sealed himself away from everything.  
  
Ron plopped down on the bench where Harry had just vacated and took a moment to clear his head before moving up next to Hermione and Ginny within the crowd before being called up for his promotion.  
  
'Harry, why are doing this to yourself, then locking yourself away and making your location Unplottable?'  
  
*~*  
  
Ron took a deep breath and scanned some of the other pages in the scrapbook before laying it aside and walking over to the mantle where several framed photos were sitting.  
  
'Never thought I'd care about this stuff,' he thought picking up a picture from the day the three of them had finished Hogwarts. Ron had to stifle a laugh as Ginny kept prancing around the picture as though she were the one leaving school. Picture Ron had his hand on Harry's shoulder and his arm around Hermione's waist, who was waving to whoever was taking the photo. 'Probably Colin Creevey.'  
  
'The following year had been hard on us all, especially Harry, who took every Death Eater attack to heart, then he got word from Dumbledore that Voldemort was moving in on Hogwarts via Hogsmeade. We headed into battle with our hopes and fears riding high.  
  
Harry made a run for the school against my wishes to get Ginny out onto the field before it got too thick for her to be safe, like she was going to be safe on the battlefield, and it was then I knew what Harry really felt for her even though he hadn't admitted anything to anyone. He kept telling her to stay down and away from the large groups of Death Eaters that were off to the left centre of the Hogsmeade High Street as we tried to make it over to the hillside.'  
  
Ron replaced the photo not wanting to remember more just now and left the room no longer angry at Ginny or Harry, knowing Hermione had been right about this morning. Harry needed a good laugh, and if it came at his expense, well, then so be it.  
  
"Actually, come to think of it, it was a good prank, but with something that big Fred and George had to have been involved in the thought process somewhere. I can almost smell their handy work." Ron said to himself leaving Hermione's for a walk down into the heart of the city to try to grab breakfast.

 


	7. A Reunion of Friends?

**Chapter 7: A Reunion of Friends?**

After spending several more hours together in Hogsmeade, Harry and Ginny Apparated into Hermione's garden, almost on the exact spot where Ron and Harry had spoken the night before.  
  
"I had a great time today, Ginny." Harry said sitting down on the low garden bench.  
  
"Me too, Harry, but I need to let you know something before Hermione gets back," she said sitting down next to Harry and taking his hands in hers. "She plans on stopping by the local Mediwitch to get something to try and help you get over some of your grief."  
  
Harry looked thoughtful for a moment. "What is she planning?"  
  
"Oh, she wasn't going to trick you into anything if that's what you are thinking, but she made plans to get a small dose of Veritaserum."  
  
"Veritaserum? How will that help me? I thought it was a truth potion."  
  
"It will make you tell the truth, Harry, but its real use is for people, like yourself, who went or are going through a lot of stress. It helps the person relax enough to feel comfortable to speak about past horrors that they normally would bottle up and never reveal otherwise," replied Ginny squeezing Harry's hand and looking into his eyes.  
  
"I don't know about drinking that stuff. Snape always used to threaten me with it-"  
  
"Harry, we would never use it like that, and you know it! We want to help you, not hurt you!" she said sounding hurt.  
  
"I'm sorry, Gin, but I didn't mean it like that. I just meant I'm not sure if I could do it...but...for you...I'll take it."   
  
"Oy! What are you two doing back there?" Ron yelled from the kitchen window just as Ginny was about to lean in and kiss Harry.  
  
"Damn! I was hoping he would be off feeding his face somewhere until later," Ginny said irritated. "We _were_ having a private talk before you interrupted!"  
  
"Just a little bit snappy this afternoon, are you? Is it that time of month already?" Ron said casually as he walked over.  
  
"You're feeling pretty brave after...how should I say...you turned the other cheek, so to speak, this morning?"  
  
"Maybe I'm willing to drop that incident, Ginny."  
  
"All right, Ron, what do you want that is _so_ important that it couldn't wait until we got inside?"  
  
"Hermione just sent in an owl saying she would be here in about an hour, if we wanted to talk to Harry about...you know."  
  
"The Veritaserum?" Harry cut in sounding cross.  
  
"Well...yea...since you...er...already know that is...we don't need to talk it over," Ron replied losing his cocky attitude, he was trying to pull over on Ginny.  
  
"Did you honestly think I would spend half a day with Harry and not mention it?"  
  
"The thought did cross my mind, yea."  
  
"Please, Ron, I am not like you! Always prancing around Hermione acting like a twelve year old."  
  
"I do not act like a twelve year old!" Ron yelled, turning red in the face.  
  
"I rest my case," Ginny said to Harry, who was laughing. Then, she retook his hand and headed toward the house with a still grumbling Ron following behind.  
  
"So, Harry...er...did Ginny ask you about coming to stay at the Burrow for a while?" Ron asked once they were inside Hermione's sitting room again and Ginny had excused herself.  
  
"Yes, she mentioned it, but I don't know, Ron, it would feel to me like I was imposing on you-"  
  
"No, mate, it wouldn't be that way at all. Ginny and I just want to-"  
  
"Try and help. I know. Just let me think on it, Ron, that's all I ask."  
  
"Sure, take as long as you need," Ron said sitting down in the over large chair and thumbing through the scrapbook again.  
  
*~*  
  
When Hermione entered her home an hour later, she found Ron and Ginny flipping through her scrapbook that she started just before their third year of Hogwarts, and Harry just staring into the low flames of her fireplace as if contemplating jumping into it.  
  
"Harry, are you feeling OK?" Hermione asked softly sitting down next to him.  
  
"Yea, I was just thinking about drinking this Veritaserum, that’s all," he replied sounding a little distant.  
  
"You do know that we aren't going to be prying into your personal life, right?"  
  
Harry laughed loudly when Hermione finished speaking. "Personal life? You are joking, right? My personal life right now is wake up, eat, think, go back to bed and have nightmares." He looked from Ron, to Ginny and then back to Hermione. "OK, I'll take the stupid stuff!"  
  
Hermione nodded and pulled a tiny bottle from her skirt pocket. "All you have to do is drink this little bit, and then we will ask you some questions. If it looks like you’re going through too much stress then we will stop, OK?"  
  
Harry took the tiny bottle that was only half way full of a clear liquid. Slowly, he pulled the cap off, turned the bottle up and drank it off. He closed his eyes and shuddered at the peppery taste it left in his mouth. When he reopened his eyes, Hermione had a glass of water held out to him, which he gladly took a couple of sips from then leaned back against the sofa as wave of relaxation swept through him.   
  
"Harry, can you hear me?" Hermione asked.  
  
Harry blinked several times, and then looked at Hermione and nodded.  
  
"Harry, you said you are having nightmares still. Are they about Voldemort?"  
  
"No."  
  
Hermione, a little shocked, looked at Ron and Ginny, who had come to stand beside her in front of him.   
  
"What are they about?" Ginny pressed.  
  
"My life at Privet Drive before I got my Hogwarts letter."  
  
"What exactly are you dreaming of about Privet Drive?"  
  
"About Uncle Vernon," Harry responded sounding almost like Luna Lovegood's dreamy voice.  
  
"What about your Uncle, Harry?" asked Ron.  
  
"I heard my Uncle cursing everything he knew one night when I was eight. He was drunk and dangerous. He was corroded by envy and hate of me. Those were endless days to me, my dreams were frozen, and I didn't have anywhere to hide, but my cupboard. And my Uncle's eyes were blank as he hit me again, again, again. I still believe, if not for Hagrid, he would never have let me leave and that I would have to run away alone," Harry paused taking in a shuddering deep breath and continued, "There were so many threats and fears and so much wasted time before my life-"  
  
"Harry, it's OK," Ginny said sitting down next to Harry, who had succumb to tears, and pulled him into a close hug.  
  
Harry pulled in another ragged breath and continued onward with his story once again. "And, though those nightmares should be over, some of my terror is still intact. Then, from nowhere, I'll hear his ugly, violent and coarse voice and it feels like he grabs me from behind and pulls me back into that old life." When he finished speaking, he let his head rest back on Ginny's shoulder.  
  
"Don't ask anymore, Hermione, please," Ginny whispered running her fingers through his hair trying to calm Harry back down.  
  
Harry suddenly sat bolt upright pushing himself away from Ginny and standing. "I'm sorry. I can't go on anymore with this. I thought I could handle some time with you guys, but...I don't know...it just feels…" Harry rushed from the room his colour going to a sheer white as if he was about to be sick.  
  
"Harry!" Ginny yelled running after Harry and catching him in the foyer before he could escape through the front door. "Where are you going?"  
  
"I'm going back to Godric's Hollow for good, Ginny, I'm sorry, but I just can’t-." Harry hung his head and Apparated before Ginny could grab hold of his arm.  
  
Ginny leaned against the wall and slid into a sitting position as her own tears overtook the strength she had in her legs just as Hermione and Ron made their way into the foyer. Ron kneeled down next to Ginny and slid an arm around her waist, helped her back into the sitting room and down onto the sofa.  
  
"Ginny, look, one of the side effects of Veritaserum is irrationalism when it starts to wear down." Hermione said.  
  
"Plus he was bringing some strong memories to the surface; maybe it all combined to make him...I don't know have an anxiety attack?" Ron added.  
  
Ginny nodded her head and excused herself to the bathroom where she sat on the edge of the tub.   
  
'Maybe that's all it was,' she thought drying her eyes.' Just a side effect from that damnable potion that I should have refused to go along with giving him.' She stood up and looked at herself in the mirror. "Harry, don't lock yourself away from me anymore," she whispered, then splashed a bit of water on her face before rejoining Ron and Hermione back downstairs.

 


	8. A Late Night Talk and a New Day Begins

**Chapter 8: A Late Night Talk and a New Day Begins**

Ginny sat at the kitchen table, rolling a quill between her hands over a blank sheet of parchment, back home at the Burrow after leaving Hermione's an hour ago. She was still hearing Harry's departing words as he Apparated away, and silently wished her mother was still alive so she could have the heart to heart she so desperately needed. True, Hermione was there to talk to if necessary, but she was away at work most days, and then it seemed that Ginny herself was working down in Torquay when Hermione was available. She had just steeled herself to write down what she felt to Harry, when Ron came bursting into the kitchen, out of breath as though he has just run a marathon.  
  
"Damn, that's the first time I've missed my landing in over a year!" he exclaimed plopping down at the table across from Ginny and summoning a bottle of Butterbeer to himself.  
  
"If you had your mind on where you were going instead of Hermione's legs you might have made it here," Ginny replied giving Ron a scathing look.  
  
Ron just shrugged his shoulders and glanced at the parchment in front of Ginny.   
  
"You know, Gin, he may not answer any post from anyone right now," he said after reading the heading across the top of the parchment, and placed a brotherly hand on her shoulder in which she took great comfort.  
  
"I just wish...things would have been different for him...all of us. Voldemort! Even from the grave that bloody prat is still robbing Harry of his life!"  
  
"But he did not mention Voldemort under the Veritaserum. He only referred to his Uncle Vernon."  
  
"Well, if not for Voldemort, Harry wouldn't have had to live a life of hell with that fat bastard! How can some people be so cruel to their families like that?"  
  
"Ginny," Ron started placing his hand over hers. "Just because we were raised to appreciative of our family doesn't mean everyone else teaches their children to do the same. Hell, the Dursley's are Muggles, and maybe from Vernon's point of view he believes that wizards and witches are vile and loathsome."  
  
"Or maybe his Aunt laid the egg in Mr. Dursley's head that made his hatred grow to the portion it has grown into today?"  
  
"I wouldn't doubt that idea, but what I don't understand, if it is true, is how a woman could do something like that to make it happen to her own sister's child." Ron replied after taking a long drink from his Butterbeer.  
  
"Jealousy?" asked Ginny stealing a small sip from Ron's drink.  
  
"That could be it too, but maybe she fancied Harry's Dad and was jealous for that reason or maybe it was just because his Mum was a witch and she was just a Muggle."  
  
"That sounds likely, but I just think the woman hated her own flesh and blood for what she was instead of loving her for who she was," she said angrily.  
  
"This debate isn't really going to get us anywhere, Ginny, so I suggest we just call it a night and start fresh in the morning," Ron said quickly sensing his sister's anger rising.  
  
She nodded her head a bit reluctantly and followed Ron from the kitchen and up the stairs.  
  
"Ron?" she asked stopping outside her bedroom door. "Where is it you ended up when you Apparated home?"  
  
"Waist deep in the pond." Ron replied blushing slightly and smiling at Ginny's giggles. "You know, I don't know how, but I wound up with a toad in my pant's leg," he finished, and they were both now leaning against each other and the wall for support as their laughter grew out of control.  
  
"Maybe...that will teach...you to keep...your mind on...where you are...going next time," Ginny spluttered out through her laughter. "Why didn't you...just Apparate the rest of the way home...instead of walking that far?"  
  
'It's good to see her smiling again,' Ron thought shrugging his shoulders and pulling Ginny into a quick hug, thinking about the past day and a half at Hermione's home and heading upstairs to his own room.  
  
*~*  
  
Hermione closed her eyes against the sun's rays streaming through her window when she awoke the next morning. After a long night of sitting with Ron and Ginny, she had crawled into bed at around one, and now, her guess was that it was just past eight. She rolled to her right blinking back sleep and saw her assumption was correct on the time. She sat up, after deciding she did not need to get too much sleep, pulled on her slippers and headed down to the kitchen.  
  
She padded her way across the kitchen, her mind on a glass of orange juice while she waited for her kettle to heat for her morning cup of coffee.  
  
"Long night?" Harry asked coming into the kitchen, causing Hermione to yell and drop the carafe of orange juice, which shattered on the floor, covering her feet in the sticky juice.  
  
"Damn it, Harry!" Hermione almost screamed reaching for a towel. "You almost scared me to death!"  
  
"I'm sorry, but...I needed to talk to you about last night," he replied pulling his wand, repairing the glass carafe and disappearing the splattered juice that covered almost half of the kitchen floor.  
  
"You could have sent Hedwig in with a note instead of lying in waiting to scare me," she said sitting down at the little table where she normally ate breakfast and motioned for Harry to do the same.  
  
"I tried to get Hedwig to come, but she refused," Harry replied giving her an apologetic smile as he sat down across from her.  
  
"What did you need to say, Harry?" Hermione asked a little too harshly, sneaking a peek at the kettle on the stove. "I'm sorry to sound rude, Harry, but you just startled me and as you can tell I just woke up."  
  
"It's OK, Hermione, I know you just woke up, but you could have used magic to heat that," Harry pointed out when he realised what she was glancing at, causing her to blush slightly. "You see, I guess last night I had...I don't know some kind of anxiety attack or something from drinking that stupid stuff...Well, I'll spare you the details of what happened when I got home, but I managed to sleep for few hours and ...realised what had happened-"  
  
"Harry, no one is going to blame you for what was said. We had a discussion after you were gone, and what it all came down to is that you have been away from everyone so long and then me having you drink Veritaserum didn't help you out as I hoped it would. I guess all that combined made you a bit paranoid."  
  
Hermione made her way to the kettle, which had started to whistle, and began to prepare two mugs of coffee while Harry began to talk again.  
  
"Look that’s the problem; I made an ass of myself with Ginny...we had sort of a...tender moment in Hogsmeade yesterday-"  
  
"You and Ginny! Ha, I was expecting that before you decided to disappear," she said sitting back down and sliding Harry's coffee to him. "Harry, Ginny's been waiting for you these past five years, I can only remember one date she's been on in that time period. She's not going to give up that easily just yet."  
  
"Do you have to know everything?" Harry teased with a smile.  
  
"No, but I have great intuition about people's feelings."  
  
"Hermione, all joking aside, what do I need to do to fix myself?"  
  
"You just did the first step, Harry, admitting you have a problem, but I would say maybe we all need to go see a group therapist."  
  
"Why do you three need to have therapy?"  
  
"Well, mostly it would mean we were there to support you, but Ron is never going to waste time sitting around St. Mungo's having his head analysed. I am, and I'm sure Ginny would be willing to it for you."  
  
Harry grasped Hermione's hand in an appreciative manner and nodded his head about her suggestion. "Are you willing to help me that way?"  
  
"Harry, I will help you get your life back together if that's what you want."  
  
"It's what I want...but mostly I want to feel...human again and to have a normal life."  
  
"Give me about an hour to get ready, then I can take the day off, and we will head over to the Burrow to talk with Ron and Ginny."  
  
Harry nodded his approval as Hermione made her way out of the kitchen.  
  
'An hour,' he thought to himself as he poured another cup of coffee. 'She just wants to get Ron's attention.' Harry choked back a laugh as began to flip through the morning's Daily Prophet.

 


	9. At the Burrow

**Chapter 9: At the Burrow**

Harry Apparated with Hermione almost silently into Ron and Ginny's garden for the first time in over five years. At first glance, little had changed except that Ginny had replaced several of the flowerbeds that surrounded the area. Also noticeable was the absence of the Garden Gnomes that used to peep from their burrows under the Rhododendron bushes planted along the garden's wall.  
  
"Hermione are you sure...we're not too early?" he asked a little apprehensively catching her by the shoulder as they made their way onto the back porch of the Burrow.  
  
"Harry, Ron may still be laid up in bed, but if Ginny isn't up yet then I'll be surprised,” answered Hermione giving Harry a comforting look. "And no we are not too early."  
  
"Are you sure, because it is still a little early and ...there is no need for me to be hexed this early in the morning; after all afternoons are much better for me."  
  
"Ginny will not hex you for showing up on her doorstep at nine in the morning, especially not for coming to apologise!" she said a little exasperated at Harry's nervousness. "Now if you were to pull a repeat of last night then..."  
  
Hermione let Harry finish off the sentence however he liked inside his head and began to knock softly on the door. From within the house they could here the shuffling of bare feet padding across the wood floor of the kitchen as a petite frame began to come into view through the curtained window of the door.  
  
Ginny pushed back the curtain slightly and was shocked to see Hermione standing there with...Harry. She threw open the door, gave Hermione a quick hug and watched Harry from the corner of her eye.  
  
"Hermione...Harry, what brings you here?" she asked still watching Harry's nervous movements.  
  
"Harry...ow...we were hoping to talk with you and Ron," Hermione started then corrected when Harry poked her stiffly in the ribs with his finger.  
  
"Ron is still asleep as usual, though he should be up shortly; he said something about going into Ottery St. Catchpole today, but you're welcome to come in and wait."  
  
Ginny stood back to allow Hermione and Harry to come into the kitchen/dining area and headed over to the small stove. She brought over coffee and a plate of toast while they found a seat at the table, Harry a little further back from the girls as if they may turn their wands on him for his actions last night.  
  
"Harry, Ginny is not going to hex you!" Hermione said sounding upset at Harry's apparent nervousness.  
At Hermione's statement, Ginny turned to look at Harry surprised about what had been the cause of his nervousness.  
  
"Harry," she began softly. "I'm not going to hex you if that's what you think."  
  
Ginny moved around the table and sat down next to Harry taking his hands in hers.  
  
"You never made me angry, Harry. No look at me!" she continued pulling his head up to face her when he tried to look away. "I love you, Harry and what happened last night wasn't you talking; it was that stupid potion I shouldn't have let you drink."  
  
"None of us should have let you drink it, Harry, and I shouldn't have even suggested giving it to you." Hermione added sincerely.  
  
"I wanted to come and find you after you Apparated away, but Ron wouldn't let me."  
  
"You wouldn't have been able to," Harry said quietly holding Ginny's hands tightly and running his thumbs over her knuckles. "I've made most of Godric's Hollow Unplottable now that no one, but me lives in the area."  
  
"Ron told me you had probably done that and that's why he wouldn't let me go off running around Wales last night looking for you," said Ginny releasing one of hands so she could run her fingers through his already messy hair.  
  
Suddenly Harry leaned forward and captured her lips with his causing another burst of fireworks to go off inside her head as it did the day before in the Three Broomsticks.  
  
"I'm sorry, Ginny." Harry whispered pulling her into his arms.  
  
"Don't be, Harry, it wasn't you last night," she answered wiping away a single tear that had rolled down Harry's cheek.  
  
 “Good morning...er...Ginny?" Ron stopped when he entered the kitchen looking at Hermione who was sitting at the end of the table visibly trying not to intrude in the moment that was going on between Harry and Ginny by glancing through the Daily Prophet, and then he looked at the couple questionably.  
  
"Ron, Harry and I came by to talk with you and Ginny about last night," Hermione said standing up and moving towards Ron who was still confused. "Ron?" she asked tapping him on the shoulder.  
  
Ron jumped out of his daze at Hermione's touch. "Sorry, I wasn't expecting...what are you two doing here?"  
  
"I've told you once already, Ron, but you weren't listening. We came by to talk something over with you and Ginny."  
  
Ron nodded and plopped down in the chair that Mr. Weasley used to sit in when Harry visited in the past, grabbed a couple pieces of toast and began munching away, waiting for Hermione to start speaking, knowing that Harry would not do it first.  
  
"Ginny, Ron," Hermione began looking at Harry first who was once again studying the floor then at Ginny and back at Ron. "Harry was waiting for me earlier this morning when I came downstairs for breakfast and we had a quick talk about last night and what he wanted to do, and I suggested something to him that maybe we all could do to help."  
  
"Count me in, Harry," Ginny answered before hearing what Hermione wanted of them retaking Harry's hand, causing him to look up and smile.  
  
Ron, however, was still just looking at Hermione waiting to hear exactly what was wanted of him.  
  
"We talked it over," Hermione continued looking more at Ron than Ginny, knowing he was the one to convince. "We decided it would be good for all of us, especially Harry, to see some kind of therapist."  
  
"A what? One of those Muggle doctors that charge you by the hour to not really listen to your problems or what you have to say?" Ron asked flabbergasted. "No, you can count me out. I've got better things to do than sit around some dingy, dark office talking to someone I don't know and paying them for it!"  
  
"You know, Ron, you have the emotional range of a burnt stick!" Hermione retorted sounding angry at Ron's lack of interest. "No, Ronald, not a Muggle therapist, but one at St. Mungo's!"  
  
"Well...now I...you see...it's just...I didn't know you meant a Healer," he sputtered under Hermione's glare. "But you know...I still...er...don't want...to waste a day-"  
  
"Waste a day!?" she nearly screamed standing up and pointing at Harry. "Ron, we are talking about one of our closest friends, your best mate, not a pet!"  
  
"Hermione, if he doesn't want to do it, then it doesn't matter." Harry said trying to abate her anger.  
  
"It does matter, Harry! We spent eight years together before you went away on your own and now he's acting as if none of it mattered to him!" she said now pointing at Ron.  
  
"I never said it didn't matter!" Ron spoke up turning red in the face. "I just said I didn't like the idea of hanging around in a hospital for a whole day for no reason!"  
  
"I think this our cue to leave for a little while." Ginny whispered in Harry's ear standing, tugging him up and leading him to the door. At the door, she slid her feet into a pair of open heeled trainers and pulled him out onto the back porch.  
  
Harry reached out and took Ginny's hand, weaving his fingers with hers, as she walked toward a path leading into the woods, which he knew led to the Weasley's pond a short walk in. Ginny looked over at Harry when he took her hand, smiled and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek as they followed the wooded path, leaving the sound of Ron and Hermione's bickering behind.  
  
"I see they still like to argue with one another," Harry said after a few moments of silent walking.  
  
"Of course, Harry," Ginny answered tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "They aren't going to stop until Ron gets the nerve to make a move or Hermione gets tired of waiting."  
  
"You would think by now that she would be tired of waiting for him to speak up."  
  
"Hermione is, but she's stubborn and old fashioned."  
  
"Meaning what?" he asked watching the morning sunlight glint sparks of fire off her hair.  
  
"She wants him to make the first move and she is going to stand firm on her belief that the guy should make the first move."  
  
The path opened up into a sunlit clearing where the pond was set almost into the centre of a wide grassy field dotted here and there with wildflowers. On the edge of the pond closest to them was a short pier that Harry remembered was the place where he was taught how to fish by Mr. Weasley and spent many hot summer days with Ron, Hermione, Ginny and sometimes the twins, Fred and George, cooling off in the pond's refreshing water.  
  
Ginny led Harry over to the pier, still holding hands and took a seat on the edge, Harry dangling his feet over the edge while Ginny kicked her shoes to the side and sat next to him Indian style.  
  
"I remember coming out here and really feeling like a Weasley family member, just being able to forget what I was prophesised to do and what type of family I had back home," Harry said after several more moments of silence between them.  
  
"Harry, Mum and dad always thought of you as their son when you were here. I remember she would coddle you just like one of us, but you never complained; you just let her fuss over you while the rest of us tried to escape," replied Ginny with a small smile.  
  
"I actually enjoyed being treated that way by your Mum. It made me feel...loved and wanted."  
Ginny leaned forward and gave him a gentle kiss, pulled him into a hug and laid his head in her lap where she began to run her fingers through his hair. Silence fell between the two again as Ginny continued to play with Harry's hair while he looked out over the pond where tendrils of fog were slowly rising into the morning air as the sun rose higher into the sky.  
  
"I just remembered the last time we were out here," Ginny spoke up suddenly with a laugh. "It was the summer before my seventh year, and Fred and George grabbed you between them. They began swinging you back and forth and tossed you from here out into the water-"  
  
Harry rolled onto his back and looked up into her chocolate brown eyes as laughter took away her voice momentarily, knowing exactly what day she was referring to, which caused him to blush.  
  
"They swung you out into the water, but...Fred kept hold of your...shorts and in you went...starkers!" she lay back on the pier as laughter once again took her voice away. "You hopped out of the water, back onto the pier and had no idea...what they had done and when you finally did...realise it...I can still see your expression... not to mention your-"  
  
"OK, I remember that as clear as crystal," Harry said cutting her off, rising out of her lap and lying down next to her. "I really didn't need to have the tale retold to me."  
  
Ginny rolled to her side facing Harry trying to stifle the last of her giggles at the serious look on his face. He reached up and slowly tucked the loose hair around her face behind her ear and leaned in kissing her softly, deepening the kiss with each touch of their lips. Once again Ginny felt as though an explosion of fireworks had gone off inside her head as Harry kissed her deeper and deeper. She reached up and pulled herself closer to Harry wanting to feel closer contact between their bodies.  
  
"I'm sorry, Ginny," Harry said abruptly breaking the kiss and sitting up. "I didn't mean to...be that forceful."  
  
"Harry," said Ginny sitting up herself and taking his face in her hands. "It's OK; if I didn't want you to kiss me that way then I never would have let you."  
  
"It's just that...I...love you Ginny...and..."  
  
"Harry, I know you do, but you need to relax a little and just let your feelings show and not bottle them away."  
  
"I'm trying, Ginny, but I've...never had anyone to...well...show them to."  
  
"I know that too, Harry, but you have someone now. Someone who has wanted your love for a long time."  
Harry smiled and pulled Ginny to a standing position when he got to his own feet. He pulled her into a hug and gave her one more soft kiss and let her lead the way back to the Burrow once again hand in hand.  
  
"It sounds as though the storm has passed in there for now," Ginny said when they entered the garden.  
  
Harry nodded and laughed softly as they made their way onto the back porch and into the kitchen. Harry looked around the kitchen expecting to see Hermione and Ron, but they were nowhere in sight.  
  
He and Ginny made their way through the Burrow and were about to enter the sitting room when they spotted Ron and Hermione wrapped in a tight embrace.  
  
"I see his technique hasn't changed much," Harry whispered causing Ginny to clap her hand over her mouth to stop from laughing aloud.  
  
"Come on, we'll wait for them in the kitchen. Oh, when Fred and George find out, they are going to have a field day with him," whispered Ginny leading the way back to the kitchen.  
  
"I take it that you haven't let them know about the prank you pulled on them then?"  
  
"No, but they are going to take the mickey out of him for that too."  
  
Harry laughed about the thoughts of what the twins may do to Ron when they were told the news of Ron and Hermione.  
  
"I wouldn't laugh if I were you, Harry. They'll get you too for dating me because like it or not you are stuck with me," she added with a playful smile.  
  
Harry sobered a little, but continued to laugh knowing what she said was true on both counts, and he was quite glad to be stuck with her finally. For the first time in over five years he felt at peace.

 


	10. Harry

**Chapter 10: Harry’s Treatment Begins**

"I never said it didn't matter!" Ron grumbled turning red in the face, visibly trying not to yell at Hermione. "I just said I didn't like the idea of hanging around in a hospital for a whole day with no reason!"  
  
"No reason, Ronald?" Hermione asked moving around the table as if she were about to strangle Ron, neither noticing Harry nor Ginny slipping out of the back door of the Burrow. "Helping out a friend is not enough of a reason for you to do anything, but hang around your house or go walking into town to feed your face?"  
  
"I...you know...well...it was..."  
  
"Damn it, Ronald, can you never get anything out without sputtering about for some stupid explanation?"  
  
"I don't sputter out my reasonings, Hermione!" Ron yelled this time. "Not everyone can think or talk as clearly as Little Miss Perfect: Hermione Granger!" he finished, storming from the kitchen and heading towards the stairs.  
  
"Ron, you started this argument," Hermione yelled following him towards the stairs. "And I intend for us to finish this before we go to St. Mungo's with Harry!"  
  
"For the last time, Hermione, I am not GOING!" Ron roared at her turning away from the stairs and into the sitting room.  
  
"Damn you, Ronald, for being so selfish!" Hermione said sounding on the verge of tears and turned away from where Ron was staring out of the bay window. "I wish I hadn't come back here today with Harry."  
  
"If I'm going to be damned, Hermione, I want to be damned with you," Ron muttered after a short pause still looking out of the window.  
  
"What did you say?"  
  
"I said I want...well...to be with you," he answered still not looking around at her.  
  
Hermione stepped back into the sitting room approaching Ron a little cautiously, hoping finally what he was saying was true. When she placed her hand on his arm, he turned with a blazing look in his blue eyes.  
  
"Well, it looked to me this morning that Ginny and Harry have finally found each other and...well...I've fancied you since the end of our third year in school, Hermione," Ron said bring her into his arms. "Now I think I've come to...well...love you."  
  
Hermione threw her arms around his neck and kissed him hard on the lips causing him to bring her into a tighter embrace. Neither knew how long they stayed that way, but the sound of talking was coming from the kitchen, signalling the return of Harry and Ginny from wherever it was they had disappeared off too had brought them back to reality.  
  
"I hope this means you are coming with us to St. Mungo's when we go," Hermione said looking Ron in the eyes.  
  
He nodded his agreement and took her hand in his.  
  
Ron and Hermione walked into the kitchen hand in hand where they found Ginny sitting in Harry's lap while they talked quietly back and forth about something in the Daily Prophet lying open on the table. Ginny gave Hermione an "I told you so" look when she spotted their linked hands.  
  
"So what is with the quiet talk?" Hermione asked sitting down across from Harry and Ginny.  
  
"We didn't want to disturb that moment in there," Ginny answered now looking back at the Daily Prophet that Harry was thumbing through.  
  
"Well, we were...just talking," Ron answered flushing red as he sat down next to Hermione.  
  
"Sure you were, Ron. It looked like you were whispering down her throat," Ginny said still not looking at them causing Harry to snort into his Butterbeer.  
  
"What are you two going over?" Hermione asked trying to change the subject.  
  
"Ginny found an article about a new Healer at St. Mungo's that is doing a new kind of therapy," Harry answered wiping Butterbeer off his shirt and pants.  
  
"Does it say what kind of therapy?"  
  
"No, it just mentions her name, Healer McAuliffe, and she is using something new for St. Mungo's," he said sliding the paper toward Ron and Hermione, who began to read the article in earnest.  
  
"It sounds legitimate, Harry," Hermione said after finishing the article. "Do you want to look into it?"  
  
"But don't you have to have an appointment to see a Healer?"  
  
"That's the Muggle way of doing things, Harry," Ginny spoke up after finishing off the rest of Harry's butterbeer. "Healers at St. Mungo's are available anytime you need them."  
  
"OK, so...let's go see her?" he suggested sliding Ginny out of his lap and standing.  
  
The others agreed with Harry and then Flooed off to the hospital from the Burrow's overlarge kitchen fireplace.  
  
*~*  
  
Harry sat down on an almost too soft sofa in the little room, they were lead into after filling out a questionnaire, with Ginny at his side, while Ron and Hermione took a seat on the Love Seat positioned diagonal with the sofa. In front of the sofa was a plain three-legged wooden stool, a flower print cushion set on the top, which looked just big enough for a ten year old.  
  
The door opened and in stepped a very short woman, who would have probably been the same size as Professor Flitwick if you stood them side by side, wearing a light green pantsuit with her wand poking precariously out of the front pocket of her jacket. She pulled the stool closer to Harry, took a seat on top with a very agile jump and smiled at each of them in turn.  
  
"Hi, I'm Chrysta McAuliffe and I do a different kind of therapy for St. Mungo's than what any other Healer here would normally do. Do you have any questions before we start?" she said very fast in a squeaky voice that made Harry think of Flitwick even more.  
  
"And what type of therapy is it you do?" Harry asked. "It isn't Veritaserum, is it?"  
  
"No one told you what I do? No? I don't deal with Veritaserum due to its tendency to cause strong and adverse side effects in most people who try it, especially high anxiety. I deal with Hypnotism."  
  
Harry glanced at Ron who was trying to cover up a smile while Hermione had planted an elbow in his ribs to stop him from laughing out aloud.  
  
"Do I amuse you, Mr. Weasley?" McAuliffe asked, her eyes flashing with a yellow tint. "Because as far as I can tell I haven't said anything even vaguely humorous."  
  
Ron sobered under the Healer's glare, and then hung his head when she returned her attention back to Harry.  
  
"Now, my approach to Hypnotism is different than most that practice it. First, I want you to close your eyes and think of something positive and relaxing to you, but do not speak it aloud. Concentrate on nothing but that thought and my voice."  
  
Harry took a nervous breath and closed his eyes, keeping his thoughts on Ginny and the hour they had spent earlier out on the pier by the Burrow's pond. Though he had been nervous and tense for most of their talk, her assurances had calmed him, she calmed him.  
  
"Harry, I want you to start taking deep breaths and with each breath I want you to visualise that you are breathing in a pure and calming white light. And with each exhale I want you to visualise, you are breathing out a black mist or fog. That fog will represent your nervousness and anxiety."  
  
He began deep inhales of air, imagining he was breathing in and smelling the delicate smell of Ginny's hair and skin. On each exhale, he could feel Ginny squeeze his hand with encouragement, which helped him relax even more.  
  
"OK, very good, Harry. Now beginning with your toes, I want you to visualise a white light radiating, then circling and surrounding your body, but still breathing deeply, and when that visualised light reaches the crown of your head, I want you to open your eyes and look at me."  
  
Still breathing deeply, Harry began to see a radiant white light starting to stream from his toes and begin to circle slowly around them moving up his foot. With each circle the light made he could feel his muscles becoming more and more relaxed. The light with every complete circle would move further and further up his body driving out all of his nervousness, anxieties and tensions. Finally, the light reached the top of his head and holding onto that visualisation that he was enveloped in light, opened his eyes and looked at Healer McAuliffe.  
  
McAuliffe was holding her wand up, the tip pointed toward the ceiling, but low enough for the red light it was emitting to be at eye level.  
  
"Harry, in a few moments my wand will be emitting little orbs of red light and I want you to follow every move they make while holding onto your current relaxed state."  
  
At his nod, the wand released two red orbs that floated just beyond his nose in a pattern much like a moon orbiting a planet. As he followed the orbs strange little dance he could feel himself feeling drowsy, but not in an uncomfortable 'must stay awake' kind of way.  
  
"Harry, when the orbs disappear you will be asleep, do you understand?"  
  
Once again, at his nod, the dancing orbs disappeared and his head nodded forward, chin resting on his chest, asleep.  
  
"OK, now the first few questions I'm going to be asking him are going to seem irrelevant to you, but they are just to establish a line of communication with him in this state," McAuliffe said to the others, and at their nods of understanding turned back to Harry. "Harry, what is your full name, birthday and age?"  
  
"Harry James Potter. July 31, 1980. Twenty four years old," he answered immediately his head lifting up into its normal position eyes wide open.  
  
"Do you know the names and relationship of the people you came in with today?"  
  
"Yes, I do. Hermione Granger, she is almost my sister," Harry answered causing Hermione to blush. "Ronald or Ron Weasley, my best mate and almost brother," he continued shocking them all never hearing him speak so plainly. "And last, but definitely in Ginevra, though she hates that name, Ginny Pott...Weasley, my...girlfriend."  
  
Ginny looked at Hermione with a soft smile on her face, who smiled back, while Ron just looked disgusted at the two and at Harry's slip of the tongue about her last name, and gave his hand another squeeze.  
  
"Do you work, Harry?"  
  
"No, I was left a large inheritance by my parents, my Godfather and my mentor. Though at one time I did want to become an Auror or Professional Quidditch Player."  
  
"What happened to all of those people?"  
  
"Voldemort murdered my parents when I was a little over a year old. Bellatrix Lestrange murdered Sirius Black, my Godfather, in 1995. Albus Dumbledore, my mentor, was killed by Lucius Malfoy during the final battle in 1999," Harry said after a short pause.  
  
"Do you feel up to telling us about what happened at the final battle and when Dumbledore fell?" McAuliffe asked softly touching Harry lightly on the knee.  
  
"I was at the Burrow at the time with Hermione, Ron. Ginny was at Hogwarts for her last year. We were about to have lunch when Fawkes flashed into the kitchen with a note from Dumbledore saying Voldemort had moved into the open and was getting set to attack Hogwarts from Hogsmeade," Harry paused to draw a few calming breaths and continued. "When we arrived at Hogwarts we were met by Dumbledore and McGonagall and we made a game plan about going out face to face with him and his Death Eaters."  
  
Hermione waved her hand to get Healer McAuliffe's attention to let her know she had a question.  
  
"Harry, before we went out there you kept saying you wanted Ginny with you, but you never told us why," Hermione said when the Healer nodded her acknowledgement.  
  
"I found something in my personal researches about the power of love and I wanted Ginny there to help me with my focus for it, but she was supposed to stay out of the way in which she did her best," Harry answered now looking at Hermione. "I told her yesterday morning because she wanted to know the same thing."  
  
"Anything else, Hermione? OK, Harry, please continue on with what you were saying."  
  
"We went to meet them in battle, walking in a line from the gates of Hogwarts into Hogsmeade. Myself in the centre, Dumbledore, McGonagall and Remus Lupin to my right. Ginny, Ron and Hermione to my left. As we passed Hogsmeade Station, we were ambushed from the side by Fenrir Greyback, Antonin Dolohov, Walden Macnair and Lucius Malfoy."  
  
*~*  
  
_"Harry, keep everyone close and don't let this line fail!" Dumbledore yelled over the burning wreckage of one of the Hogsmeade shops._  
  
Before Harry could answer, Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge was running towards them, his lime green bowler hat askew and his purple pinstriped suit covered in dust.  
  
"Dumbledore, what are you doing taking these children into a fight you can not win?" He asked out of breath and falling to his knees. "We've lost several Aurors already!"  
  
"Fudge, calm down and tell me what you are doing here." Dumbledore asked without answering the Minister.  
  
Suddenly the Glamour Charm concealing several Death Eaters was lifted catching the group off guard. Three masked Death Eaters charged, knocking McGonagall unconscious to the ground. Lupin immediately pounced on the largest, knocking his mask to the side, revealing him to be the werewolf Greyback. Greyback and Lupin grappled with each other until out of sight behind the smoke of the burning building.  
  
Dumbledore flicked his wand and one of the Death Eaters either fell to the ground dead or knocked out. Hermione and Ron performed two different spells at once causing severe pain in the last standing Death Eater forcing him to fall writhing into the burning building.  
  
Fudge rose to his feet as Dumbledore was returning his attention back to him, pulled his wand and yelled, "Avada Kedavra!" catching Dumbledore awkwardly and knocking him over.  
  
"NO!" Harry screamed when Dumbledore crumpled to the ground, pulling his own wand and was about to aim a spell at the Minister when he began to cough and convulse.  
  
Fudge fell back to his knees next to Dumbledore, his features melting away slowly turning younger, his hair turning from the short grey crop to a shoulder length white blonde revealing the Minister to be Lucius Malfoy.  
  
"Surprised, Mr. Potter?" Malfoy asked, every white tooth showing in his evil smile.  
  
Harry kicked out with his foot, just as Dean had described football players doing with a penalty shot, catching Malfoy under the jaw before he could regain control of his wand, knocking him backwards into the dust. As Harry was about to bring down his wand on Lucius, his son, Draco came running from the area of fighting and shoved Harry aside just as a spell left a large crater where he was standing.  
  
Harry rolled away from Draco, who was now standing where Harry had been, his wand trained at his father's heart.  
  
"Draco! What do you think you are doing interfering here? I asked you to stay at the Manor!" Lucius said through gritted teeth after spitting out a mouthful of blood. "That was a perfectly placed trap for the Potter brat!"  
  
"I've stood back in your shadow for too long!" Draco yelled his cheeks flushing pink with anger. "I never wanted any of this! YOU! It was you that want me to have everything your way, not me!"  
  
With a flash, Lucius had his wand up, but Draco was faster in yelling out "Avada Kedavra!" before his father. Draco's head sank and he walked away without a word spoken to Harry or anyone else.  
  
Harry dropped to his knees next to Dumbledore and to his surprise saw that he was still breathing very slowly.  
  
"Professor?"  
  
"Harry," Dumbledore wheezed out. "Finish...him."  
  
Dumbledore's head fell back limply, leaving this world for the next great adventure beyond.  
  
*~*  
  
Harry stopped speaking and sniffed loudly while Ginny was trying to wipe away his tears.  
  
McAuliffe looked at the others and then scribbled something down on a clipboard before speaking again.   
  
"Harry, can you continue on with this session?"  
  
"Yes, I think so," he answered sounding hoarse.  
  
"After Voldemort's downfall why did you disappear or go into hiding, if you will?"  
  
"I felt I was too unclean to have people around me that were willing to love and accept me no matter what I had done or what happened. In short I felt I was murderer and still do sometimes."  
  
"Is that the only reason?" she pressed.  
  
"No, I was raised by Muggles who showed me nothing but hatred and abuse, and I have a fear of passing those feelings or traits off to whatever family I may eventually have."  
  
"Can you tell me about your Muggle family?"   
  
"I remember they treated me like a normal child until around the age of five when I somehow turned the cat blue for scratching me. Uncle Vernon began to lock me in the cupboard under the stairs only letting me out for school, meals, bathroom breaks and heavy chores which they never made their own son do," answered Harry stiffly.  
  
"Was it just your Uncle who was abusive to you?"  
  
"Yes, my Aunt Petunia never hit me like Uncle Vernon did. He would use any excuse to hit me regardless if it was me or just an actual accident."  
  
"Was it always just physical and mental abuse and never sexual?"  
  
"No, he never did anything but yell and hit me. Never open handed in the face so I would show bruises, that is what Dudley was for, but he would punch me elsewhere."  
  
"OK, let us leave them for a moment. Why did you think you would be a danger to your friends?" McAuliffe inquired.  
  
"I was never shown the love of a family until my second year at Hogwarts when I got to meet all the Weasleys. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley showed me what a true family was about, and with the home I grew up in, I was afraid I could never give that back to anyone, so I never allowed myself to really open up."  
  
"So, they were your family to you, but you never told them?"  
  
"No, and now I regret it daily with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley gone," Harry answered his voice cracking.  
  
"Did they die in battle?"  
  
"No, Mr. Weasley was killed by a Muggle vehicle and Mrs. Weasley died a few months later of a broken heart."  
  
McAuliffe looked up at the tear-filled eyes of Ginny and Hermione while Ron was fighting back his tears fiercely.  
  
"One last thing, Harry, can you tell me about your past alcohol problems?"  
  
"I...turned to alcohol to try to drown my feelings for my friends...especially Ginny. I tried once before to tell her how I felt, but Ron saw how inebriated I was and I never got to see her that day. Ron told me to go home and sober up...I went home and ...came pretty close to putting my wand to my head and ending all my pain...but my conscience took over and I passed out before I could do anything...damaging."  
  
"OK, I believe this is enough for today," she said taking out her wand and tapping Harry twice on the forehead.  
  
Harry blinked several times and looked around at Ginny, who was still crying quietly with a shocked look on her face. He took her in his arms and whispered something to her no one else could hear. He gave her a soft kiss on the forehead after which she buried her face in his shoulder.  
  
"That was a good session, Mr. Potter. I want you to come back to see me in two days."  
  
"OK," Harry muttered still holding Ginny, running one hand over her hair and the other slowly up and down her back.  
  
"I do have one more question for you now that you are awake again," she said slowly. "What happened to Remus Lupin? We were good friends during Hogwarts and we've kind of lost touch for the last few years."  
  
"He was found after the battle next to the beheaded body of Greyback. Though he had no memory of it, the Healers here decided the werewolf side of him took over and he...pulled his head off," Hermione answered sounding sick at the thought. "But he is married now and living in Ireland where he is working on the cure for Lycanthropy."  
  
McAuliffe nodded and hopped off the little stool. She shook Harry's hand before leaving them in privacy to regain their composure. When she stepped back into the room to escort them out, she found them all standing in a group hug in the centre of the room, each of them shedding tears and seeking each other’s compassion, understanding and assurances.

 


	11. Harry and Ginny

**Chapter 11: Harry and Ginny’s Decision**

On their way out of St. Mungo's, after Harry had finished his first round of treatment with Healer McAuliffe, they all decided it would be best if he did not Apparate or Floo for a few hours. Ron Flooed in an order for a Ministry car to pick them up and had it waiting for them as they exited the false front of a shop through the window.  
  
Harry was silent on the return trip to the Burrow only answering 'yes' or 'no' when asked a question during Ron and Hermione's discussion of McAuliffe's ways of treatment, which garnered him a look of unease from Ginny.  
  
"Harry," Ginny spoke up as soon as the car was driving away from the Burrow and Ron and Hermione made their way inside. "Are you feeling OK? You looked...I don't know...a little distant on the trip home, like you were having thoughts of running into hiding again."  
  
"No, Ginny, I wasn't thinking about leaving again, so you can get that thought out of your head," Harry answered taking her hands, kissing her palms softly and sitting down on the porch steps, pulling her down next to him. "I actually feel better, more like my old self, than I have in years! I guess you could say it's like having a huge weight lifted off my chest."  
  
"You had me worried, Harry," she said breathing a sigh of relief. "I thought you might have another set back like yesterday."  
  
"You have nothing to worry yourself over," said Harry pulling her into his arms. "I was just thinking about...well...about you and Ron wanting me to live here with you and...I think I may do that and..."  
  
Ginny squealed with delight, hugged Harry tighter and kissed him on the forehead with a loud smack causing him to laugh.  
  
"I'll take that as you still want me to stay here?"  
  
"Of course I...we want you here, Harry! We were serious about you staying with us to help you get back to your normal self again...and us being together will be an added bonus for me!" Ginny said wriggling her eyebrows causing him to blush and laugh harder.  
  
Ginny stood, pulling Harry up with her and led him into the house where Ron and Hermione were sitting rather close at the kitchen table.  
  
"Everything OK?" Hermione asked when Harry and Ginny came in and took a seat across from her and Ron.  
  
"Nothing was wrong, Hermione," Harry said looking at her and Ron seriously. "I was just thinking about what Ron and Ginny asked me yesterday."  
  
"And what was that, Harry?" Hermione pressed when he did not elaborate.  
  
"They asked if I wanted to stay here for a bit until I got myself back together, and I think I want to do that."  
  
Hermione, Harry and Ginny looked at the shocked expression on Ron's face, who was just staring at Harry, his Butterbeer not all the way up to his lips. He slowly sat down the bottle looking at each of them in turn with a smile slowly lighting up in his eyes as he tried to keep it, unsuccessfully, off his lips.  
  
"What?" he asked at last, still looking at their expressions, laughter beginning to sputter out. "Did you think...I was going to go...spare?"  
  
Hermione began laughing then punched Ron hard on the shoulder, causing him to laugh harder as Harry and Ginny joined in the laughter while Ron took his punishment from Hermione.  
  
"Ron," Harry said as the laughter started to abate from everyone. "I was thinking about going to Godric's Hollow to get a few things and...I wanted Ginny to come with me."  
  
"It's OK with me, mate, wherever you want to go with Ginny, so you don't need to ask me or let me know for that matter," he answered his laughter drying up at what Harry had been asking. "She is old enough to know what she wants and to go where she wants. So, if she wants to go with you then...go!"  
  
Harry's face lit up with relief and joy knowing Ron did not mind and trusted him going to his home for few hours to pack up some of the things he would need to get by for a few weeks, with Ginny alone. He stood and pulled Ginny up with him and into a tight embrace.  
  
"I'm going to Apparate us in so hold on tight, OK."  
  
Ginny nodded and waved to Ron and Hermione as they disappeared with a loud 'POP'.  
  
*~*  
  
Ginny’s first impression upon seeing the Hollow for the first time was it was desolate. The house they were standing in front of could not have been where Harry had hidden himself away for five years.  
  
The house, which looked to have been white in the past, was now a chipped and peeling grey with tinges of yellow with age. The roof supports appeared to have collapsed on the western side from numerous winter snowfalls. The shutters were hanging loose, while others were on the ground, no longer covering windows that had been shattered by kids or just broken from seasonal weather change.  
"It's only a Disillusionment Charm, Ginny," Harry said when he saw her expression. "I see the house the same way that you do, but the inside looks normal."  
  
"What about the rest of the Hollow, Harry?" Ginny asked as he started up the overgrown walkway. "Surely you didn't do everything like this."  
  
Harry looked towards the direction she was pointing and saw what she meant. Grass hardly grew anywhere and the trees were barren of any kind of foliage. The places where homes used to be were now just rectangles of foundations slowly rotting back into the earth. The few houses that did remain were in such deplorable condition that it was an amazement they were still standing. The others were covered in the only thing growing healthily; ivy.  
  
"No, I didn't do any of that...what you see out there is real," he answered sadly, sighing softly. "Apparently after Voldemort raided the house here everyone fled in fear, leaving it to rot away."  
  
"But why doesn’t anything grow here?"  
  
"I think because of whatever he did to find us here; he cursed the land so it would never be livable again as punishment for not ratting us out."  
  
Harry started back up the walk that was overgrown with the only grass that would grow here, it seemed to Ginny; witch grass that had crickets and grasshoppers jumping from their disturbed shelters. He made his way up the rickety stairs onto the porch and opened the door with a muttered incantation.  
  
The door swung open by itself, and Harry stepped aside to let her enter first. As she stepped into the foyer that led into a short hallway, she knew what Harry meant about it looking normal on the inside. The walls here were painted a soft sky blue and a sunroof just above them let in ample light, filling almost the entire hallway with its glow and warmth. As they made their way down the hall Ginny caught a glimpse of a sitting room painted in Gryffindor red and gold, with curtains that had the Gryffindor emblem emblazoned on them.  
  
Harry led her into his small kitchen where he told her to make herself at home while he packed a few things up. When he left her alone, she took in the almost too clean kitchen painted in a yellow that would have matched a Fairy's light perfectly, had one been in the room. The large fireplace here appeared to have never been used with its almost total lack of soot and ash.  
  
She walked back out into the hallway and looked up the stairs where Harry had disappeared to pack whatever it was he wanted. She opened the door directly across from the stairs and looked in astonishment at a very large library filled from floor to ceiling with books. In the centre of the room was a desk cluttered with parchment, quills and different coloured inkwells.  
"Now, this seems more like Harry," she muttered to herself as she looked around the room and made her way over to the cluttered desk.  
  
She picked up the top piece of parchment and tried to make out what he had written in his untidy scrawl. The lettering was done in an unsteady hand and at a speed, which should have been impossible without breaking the quill used. Sitting down in the worn chair, she tried to figure out what Harry was doing here when she saw the date scratched across the top. He had written this last night while in his fit of an anxiety attack.  
  
She could make out very little of is contents, but what she could, she was sure it was intended to be about his suicide he talked about earlier while under hypnosis. Ginny shuddered at the thoughts of losing him now that they had finally found each other. Tossing the parchment into the wastebasket, she made her way out and to the stairs to find Harry, whom she could hear bustling around upstairs, as if she was afraid something would happen to him.  
  
At the top landing, she heard a drawer being opened and peeked into the slightly ajar door to her left. The room had the same feel as the library downstairs, but she knew at once that Harry had spent most of his time here when not sleeping his days away. On one wall was a small bookcase that had just a few books and quite a few keepsakes he must have held dear, while the rest of the walls were bare except for the picture window looking out over a slow running creek. He was sitting behind the desk, which was visibly cleaner than the library desk, rummaging through a drawer on the bottom.  
  
"Hi, love, I didn't hear you come up," Harry said with a smile when he noticed her standing just inside the door. "I'm almost done."  
  
She watched him bend back down to rummage in the drawer once again and made her way over to the bookcase to see what he kept out while in solitude. On the top shelf were four books: The Healer's Helpmate, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Quidditch Through the Ages and, laughably, Hogwarts: A History. The next shelf had his Special Services to the School Award from his second year when he had saved her and killed the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets, along with his Hogwarts Diploma. The third and bottom shelf had photos of Hermione, Ron, her and the rest of the Weasleys from various times throughout the years.  
  
She turned around to find Harry staring over her shoulder startling her.  
  
"I didn't mean to scare you!" Harry blurted out taking her into his arms and kissing her softly on the lips.  
  
"It's all right, Harry," she replied returning his hug and giving him a kiss of her own. "Just make a little noise when you walk up behind me next time or you may not be so lucky next time," she finished brandishing her wand at him.  
  
"I need to get something from the bedroom and then we can be on our way back to the Burrow." Eyeing the wand carefully, knowing what she was capable of, he kissed her once more and rushed from the room after slinging a gym bag over his shoulder.  
  
"I hope he's packing more than that," Ginny muttered when she saw what he was using to pack his things.  
  
She followed him into his bedroom, which was undecorated with only a queen-sized bed centred against the north wall and a small nightstand. Harry was once again digging in another drawer with the gym bag open between his feet, but this time it was the one in his nightstand. Ginny plopped down on the bed next to Harry who turned to look at her seriously.  
  
"Gin, I'm glad I've decided to stay with you and Ron," he said after retaking her hands and interlocking their fingers together. "It took awhile for me to know what I was looking for in life. You have taken hold of my heart and led it back to solid ground." Harry leaned forward and kissed her gently and sensually." With just one touch you make me forget all the empty nights I had."  
  
"Harry, I-" He cut her off with another of his sensual kisses releasing her hands and placing his arms around her waist.  
  
Ginny slowly slid her arms around his neck and lay back onto the bed, bringing him down on top of her. She beckoned him to deepen the kiss in which he obliged. His hand slid up her belly and over her breast finally finding the top button on her sweater. His fingers fumbled with each button nervously, but finally he had each undone and began to trail kisses away from her mouth and down her neck.  
  
A soft moan escaped her mouth when he kissed the skin behind her ear and moved on down her collarbone. He trailed kisses between her breasts and down her belly. Suddenly he sat up breathing heavily and ran his fingers through his hair in exasperation.  
  
"I shouldn't have done that, Ginny, I'm-"  
  
"Yes, you should have," Ginny said sitting up and putting her arms back around his neck and leaning her forehead against his. "I want you and no one else, Harry."  
  
He pulled her close, reclaiming her lips with his and lay her back down on the bed becoming one with each other for the first time.  
  
Afterwards Ginny lay in the comfort of Harry's arms while he dozed, the sweat still drying on her body, slowly and softly tracing the outline of each rib with her finger. At last her dreams had come true; she was lying in bed with Harry after making passionate love and was now contemplating what would come next between them. A long relationship before marriage or getting married and starting a family that she and Harry could love, after he finished his treatment at St. Mungo's? She fell into a light sleep still thinking about sharing her first time with Harry, and he with her along with their future together.


	12. Strained Relations

**Chapter 12: Strained Relations**

"Since when is it this bright at sunset?" Gunny mumbled to herself sitting up and rubbing sleep from her eyes while trying to focus in on Harry's clock that hung on the far wall. "Six in the morning!"  
  
"Huh? What is it, Ginny?" Harry asked startled and sitting up suddenly at her outburst.  
  
"We slept all night, Harry! Damn, Ron is going to flip out!" she answered jumping out of bed, grabbing her shirt off the nightstand and pulled it over her head as she searched around the room for the rest of her clothes that were shed during their lovemaking.  
  
"What does Ron care?" asked Harry confused. "He said he didn't mind-"  
  
"He just told you that to satisfy you!" Ginny cried cutting Harry off short and pulling her jeans on. "He is just as bad if not worse than he was about my private life than when we were in school!"  
  
"Why should it matter to you about what he thinks?" Harry asked slipping into a pair of boxers and sitting down next to Ginny on the bed.  
  
"It doesn't matter to me, but I'm just so sick of rowing with him about my life, regardless if it is my private life or not!" she nearly yelled her voice cracking. "We were supposed to be gone a couple of hours, not all night! I can only imagine what kind of shit he is going to be throwing up at me!"  
  
Harry pulled her into a tight and loving embrace, placed a tender kiss on her lips and then, when her sobs subsided, laid her head in his lap, slowly running his fingers through her hair to help calm her more.  
  
"If he is as upset as you think he will be then what are you going to do? Harry asked after several minutes of silently consoling her. "I mean, if this has been going on for ages then why do you stay with him at the Burrow?"  
  
"I won't know what I'm going to do until I get to the Burrow, but if he's going to be flying off the handle at me today then I have an idea." Ginny answered rolling from her side to her back so she could see Harry's face. "Our arguments don't happen often, but when they do it can get a little ugly."  
  
"What is his problem with you, love?"  
"As far as I know, his self-esteem is still low like it always has been. Things got better when he was promoted to the Head of Magical Games and Sports, but his insecurities started to creep back in on him when they gave him Wilksborough as his assistant. For some odd reason, Ron thinks he is a threat to him."  
  
"Isn't he the one Ron left in charge while he is on holiday?"  
  
"Yes, but I don't know why, seeing that Wilksborough couldn't find his ass with both hands and his wand to point the way." Ginny said seriously. "But right now I think I need to go to the Burrow alone and make sure he isn't going to flip his lid with me as well as you."  
  
"Are you sure you want to go alone?"  
  
"Yes, I don't need you two getting into a brawl over his attitude," she answered sitting up with a sigh. "Sometimes I wonder if he even knows what he is doing when he gets like that."  
  
"OK, since you want to do this alone, I'll reopen the Floo for a couple of hours. That way if things go south between you two then you can come straight back here instead of staying and taking whatever he says to you."  
  
"I just hope Hermione is still there," Ginny said getting off the bed and wiping away what was left of her tears. "If someone is there besides him and me then he won't say anything to me about last night and he won't act like a damn child."  
  
"Maybe he got lucky with Hermione and it won't matter?" Harry teased.  
  
"Harry! I did not need that mental image of Ron and Hermione sleeping together," she answered with a small smile.  
  
"Well, it got you to smile, and that is all that matters to me," he said embracing her again, giving her another tender kiss and whispering 'I love you' in her ear.  
  
"You will always make me smile, Harry, always and I love you," replied Ginny returning his kiss. "But I do need to go before he gets up just in case he is in one of his moods."  
  
She kissed Harry once more then backed away, giving him a loving smile, and Apparated away leaving Harry in the silence of his home hoping her fears would come to nothing about Ron.  
  
*~*  
  
Ginny Apparated almost silently into the kitchen of the Burrow and cast a nervous glance around to make sure Ron wasn't lying in wait for her before making her way quietly up the stairs to her room to gather a few things together for herself. From the moment she had woken this morning and realised what had happened, she was determined to get away from Ron and the Burrow for a little while.  
  
She slipped into her room and headed for the closet where there was a small suitcase she had bought three months ago just in case a day like this came. She tossed the suitcase on her bed, still listening to Ron's snores from above, and began to throw her essential clothing into it without much thought on how they went in. Lost in thought about where she and Harry could go away to for a bit, silence invaded her ears and then the sound of Ron moving about stopped her heart in her throat.  
  
Ginny rushed across the room, closed the door to her room and shot the lock hoping that if he came down he wouldn't try peeking in on his way down to the kitchen. She stood rooted to the floor listening to Ron descend the stairs and then stop outside her room before knocking twice.  
  
"Ginny, you in there?" he asked through the door trying to turn the knob.  
  
Ginny tried biting her tongue, but knew if she did not answer, he would just unlock the door with his wand and come in anyway. "Yes, Ron, but give me minute and I'll meet you in the kitchen."  
  
She held her breath until Ron walked away from her room door and headed down the stairs. When she was certain he was gone she began to toss her things more haphazardly into the suitcase then rushed into the bathroom to gather up a few personal items before locking the case. Ginny cast a Featherweight Charm on the case before carrying it downstairs into the kitchen hoping for the best to come from this meeting with her brother.  
  
"What's with the suitcase, Gin?" Ron asked as she made her way into the kitchen.  
  
"I'm going to stay with Harry for a little while instead of him coming here right away," she answered sitting the suitcase next to the fireplace.  
  
"Why the change of heart?"  
  
"I decided-"  
  
"You slept with him didn't you?" Ron cut in angrily. "I knew as soon as Hermione suggested us getting Harry out of hiding you would go and turn into the village slut all over again with him around!"  
  
"It is none of your concern what happened or will happen between Harry and me, Ron!" Ginny retorted her anger rising despite her best efforts. "And I have never paraded around Harry as a slut!"  
  
"None of my concern is it? Well, as long as you live here-"  
  
"Which is why I'm getting away for a little while, Ron!" Her face flushed with anger at look of disgust on Ron's face. "From now on you are not running my life, and if you can't live with that then...I guess I can't live or be around you anymore."  
  
"I have never tried to run your life, Ginny!"  
  
"What are you doing now? Are we having a civilised conversation about what I want to do or are we yelling at each other about what you think I am?" Ginny asked tears now rolling down her cheeks from anger and heartbreak over Ron's attitude. "I love you, Ron, but you make it harder and harder for me to want to stay around you for that to be possible for too much longer."

 

"How can you say that, Ginny? After all I've done for you?" Ron asked trying to sounding hurt.  
  
"You treat me like I am still a child, Ron," she explained. "I may be your 'baby' sister, but I am not a baby any longer. I'm twenty three, which you seem to forget every time something comes up that I want to do."  
  
"I let you do what you want," he grumbled out.  
  
"That's a lie and you know it!" said Ginny loudly. "When I wanted to open my business in Torquay you tried to tell me it was too dangerous or I would just wind up going under against all the fast food places, but you were wrong! I have been there every summer for the past three years and I'll reopen again next May!"  
  
"It's just luck you haven't folded that business yet, and sooner or later it will happen!" he yelled back at her. "And Harry will just wind up going more nutters than he already is and leave you broken-hearted and probably pregnant to boot!"  
  
"Harry may have problems, Ron, but at least he is doing something about them!" Ginny replied.  
  
"You little bitch! How dare you-" Ron started pulling his wand from his dressing gown.  
  
"Ronald Weasley!" Hermione scolded sternly from the back door. "I would never have believed what I have just been hearing you say to Ginny if I didn't just walk in on it!"  
  
"Hermione, we were just talking-"  
  
"No you weren't, Ron, and I think it's best if you just repocket your wand, sit down at the table and let Ginny leave without further comment," she said a little louder now, and to quiet him down had drawn her own wand on him.  
  
Ron slid back down into his chair not wanting to test Hermione's anger or ability with a wand these days and giving Ginny a look of deep loathing.  
  
Ginny breathed a sigh of relief at Hermione's timing, nodded her thanks as she grabbed up her suitcase, and stepped into the fireplace Flooing back to Harry's home in Godric's Hollow.  
  
*~*  
  
"Harry, I'm back!" Ginny yelled from the fireplace in Harry's kitchen.  
  
When she did not get a response, she set her suitcase on the tiled floor of the kitchen and set out for the stairs. As she made her way upstairs, she caught the sound of running water and soft singing or humming. With a smile she stopped outside the bathroom realizing Harry was in there singing as he showered.  
  
"I'm gonna take you by surprise and make you realise, Ginevra!" Harry sang to the tune of Boston's _Amanda_. "I'm gonna tell you right away I can't wait another day, Ginevra!"  
  
"I hate to interrupt that beautiful solo, Harry, but I just wanted to let you know I got back OK," Ginny said reluctantly enjoying Harry's shower singing, peeking inside the bathroom door.  
  
"Hey, love!" Harry replied shutting off the shower and reaching for a towel that he wrapped around himself as he stepped out, not showing the least bit of blush from being caught singing in the shower. "Did everything go OK with Ron?"  
  
"Not really, but we'll talk about him later," she answered pushing the door the rest of the way open. "Luckily, Hermione showed up just in time to catch him in one of his moods."  
  
"Luck had nothing to do with it, Gin, I Flooed Hermione right after you left and told her to make sure everything was going to be all right over there."  
  
"Yea, she came in just as he was drawing his wand I think, but she was saying how she couldn't believe the way he was acting."  
  
"I told her a little of what you said to me about Ron, and she tried to shrug it off or was just refusing to believe what I was telling her, but I finally convinced her to go for my sake at least." Harry said grabbing another towel from the rack and starting to dry his hair.  
  
"I guess since the Burrow is out of the question right now and I assume you don't want to stay here too much longer I have an idea about where we could go."  
"You are right about me not wanting to stay here, but where did you have in mind?"  
  
"My shop in Torquay has a two bedroom flat above it that isn't used during the off season, and I thought we could stay there for a few weeks." Ginny said nervously. "Normally, Brianne and Lynn, the two girls who help me run things, stay there during the summer months so it may be decorated a little on the girly side, but you'll be away from here."  
  
"It sounds fine to me and, really, who can resist a walk on the beach every morning even during the fall?"  
  
Ginny smiled, gave Harry a quick kiss on the cheek when she realised he was not going to put up a fuss about staying there and slipped out of the bathroom to give him his privacy while he dressed. When she made it back to the kitchen the memory of her argument with Ron came back to the forefront and she slipped into one of the chairs, laid her head on the table, cradling it in her arms as her tears began to flow again.  
  
Harry came downstairs ten minutes later, his gym bag slung over his shoulder. He took Ginny into his arms after seeing the look in her eyes that the grief from her argument with Ron was still bothering her and let her cry into his shoulder, whispering words of encouragement to her. After several minutes Harry lifted her off his shoulder, looked deep into her eyes and kissed her, letting her know in his own way that things for better or worse would be OK in the end and Apparated away to Torquay to begin a life with each other.


	13. New Beginnings

**Chapter 13: New Beginnings**

"Ronald Weasley, how dare you talk to Ginny that way?!" Hermione yelled, sounding very much like Mrs. Weasley, as soon as Ginny had gone.  
  
"Hermione it wasn't-" Ron started trying to get to his feet.  
  
"Park your arse back in that chair until I tell you to move!"  
  
Ron sank back down into his chair with a stunned expression of fear on his face at the look in Hermione's eyes.  
  
"I should blast your bits off so you can have the pleasure of using the bathroom sitting down for the rest of your life!" she said leaning over the table and signalling her intentions with her wand. "But I think I'll leave any damage that needs to be done for Harry to take care of."  
  
"Harry?" asked Ron all of the colour in his face suddenly draining away.  
  
"Yes, Harry, you remember him don't you? About six four, messy black hair, piercing green eyes. Any of those things ring a bell?" Hermione said sarcastically sitting down across from Ron with her wand still pointed at him. "Maybe I should blast your bits off, Ron, because if I don't, Harry is just going to rip them off with his bare hands," she added in a casual tone as if she were just commenting on a newspaper article.  
  
Ron let out a load groan and blanched to the point that he looked similar to a corpse.  
  
"Oh, now you remember Harry! If you think Ginny isn't going to let him know what happened here today then your brain is even smaller than I thought!"  
  
"How did-"  
  
"Have I asked you to speak yet?"  
  
"No," Ron muttered in a feeble voice.  
  
"Harry Flooed me this morning with an unbelievable story that Ginny had let slip to him about the way you treat her," Hermione explained laying her wand down, but leaving it where Ron would still be able to see it. "He wanted me to make sure everything was on the up and up over here and asked me to come, but what he told me surely had to be just him being nervous about Ginny. So, I came just to keep him calm, and never in my wildest dreams would I expect to hear you downgrading Ginny the way you were about what might or might not have happened between her and Harry last night."  
  
"Hermione if I could-"  
  
"No, you can't!" Hermione yelled banging her hand on the table causing Ron to jump. "You'll get your say, but only when I say you can because if you feed me a load of crap about what could possess you to talk to your own sister that way I will not hesitate to turn you into the opposite sex!"  
  
Ron's throat made a loud clicking noise when he dry swallowed; he opened his mouth to say something then closed it nodding his understanding.  
  
"It's good to see some things do sink into that thick skull of yours," Hermione said with a smile. "Now you've tried to lie to me three times since I overheard most of what was said between the two of you, and that really isn't a good way to get things sorted out is it?"  
  
Hermione watched Ron struggle not to say anything with a look on her face like that of a cat toying with a mouse before he shook his head 'no' at her.  
  
"Progress, Ron, you are making good progress!"  
  
"Hermione, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say those things to Ginny when I know that they aren't true," Ron blurted out before he could stop himself.  
  
"It isn't me you need to be apologising to is it?" she replied seriously. "Ginny and Harry are the ones who are going to need to hear your pleas of forgiveness, don't you think?"  
  
"They do, especially Ginny, but I needed to apologise to you too, 'Mione!"  
  
"You aren't going to sweet talk your way out of that chair, Ron, so you can cut the 'Mione talk for now because it isn't exactly going to help you out any."   
  
"I still fell the need to protect her, Hermione, and I just get carried away with things sometimes."  
  
"That is one hell of a way to protect someone; yell at them until they can't stand to be around you. It makes perfect sense to me, Ron."  
  
"I told you I got carried away!" Ron bellowed.  
  
Hermione jumped up out of her chair with her wand in her left hand and as Ron's eyes followed its movement upward, she slapped him full force with her right hand. "Never take that tone of voice with me again, Ronald!"  
  
Ron's hand slid up to his face where Hermione had just slapped, which was already turning an ugly red, and looked at her in dumbfounded disbelief.  
  
"Ginny may have let you run your mouth off, but I will not stand for it and if you can't control yourself better than that then maybe I should take a page out her book and leave you to yourself for a while!"  
  
"No, Hermione, I didn't mean-"  
  
"I think you did, and you know what, Ron? I think I will leave you to yourself for a while just to lull things over in solitude since you want to be so uncooperative," Hermione pocketed her wand, backed away from the table, turned her back to Ron and Apparated away from the Burrow, leaving Ron to think about his mess and how to clean it up on his own.  
  
*~*  
  
Harry's first thought when they Apparated into the flat's sitting room was it wasn't too girly as Ginny said it might be, but instead was decorated in a pine panelling, centred around the room's stone fireplace. Ginny released him somewhat hesitantly and excused herself to the bathroom giving Harry the chance to take in a bit of his new surroundings.  
  
He could not see much of the beach from the window in this room. In the distance was a cliff with a very large hotel that sat between two hills and a large Muggle car park. That end of the beach from here looked almost too rocky to use for swimming, but he could see a boat being loaded onto a trailer from the launching area and a few people milling around talking.  
  
"That's the Osborne Hotel." Ginny said slipping her arms around his waist from behind. "I'm not really in direct competition with them, but I think they would prefer if I weren't here."  
  
"And why is that?" he asked turning in her arms and placing his forehead against hers.  
  
"Well, you can't tell from here, but we are pretty much in the centre of the swimming area, and not to mention about twenty five metres from the water's edge," she said with a smile. "You ready to go for that walk on the beach?"  
  
"You can show me the beach later, but what we need to do first is sit and talk about went on with Ron and you today." Ginny looked crestfallen at Harry's words, but allowed him to lead her over to the sofa. "I know you probably don't want to do it, and you are probably afraid I might go off after Ron, but I'm not going to do anything to him...right now. All I want is to let you get this off your chest before you start feeling guilty and blaming yourself for what happened."  
  
Ginny sat down next to Harry still holding his hand with a worried look on her face. Reaching out for his other hand she told Harry all that had transpired at the Burrow from the moment she left Godric's Hollow ending with Harry singing in the shower.  
  
Harry sat in silent thought before asking in a shocked voice. "Ron called you all those things?" When Ginny nodded, Harry took her into his arms slowly rocking her back and forth. "You know I don't think of you as any of those things and that I would never leave you broken-hearted and pregnant right?"  
  
"Of course I don't think that, Harry, but still...what is going to happen between all of us now? We set out to get you out of solitude and bring us all together again and now we have all wound up separated once again," Ginny said looking into Harry's green eyes. "Hermione will not take what Ron said too lightly."  
  
"Better her than me, right?  
  
"In all honesty, Harry? No, I think I would rather you just go over there and take care of him because Hermione can still be scary at times when someone gets on her bad side."  
  
"She did take care of Malfoy in out third year and as always she was strong in the...final battle."  
  
"Harry, Hermione will either solve Ron or kill him; I'm just not certain which it will be yet."  
  
"I know, but I guess she'll go for his bits."  
  
"No, no buts, she will not hesitate with that threat and she has used it many times on him including a well placed Stinging Hex last Christmas."  
  
"I do not want to hear anymore about Ron's bits and what Hermione has done with them." Harry said with a laugh.  
  
"Well, I think it is time for that walk to clear our heads, don't you think?"  
  
"No," he said flatly. "I think it's time you showed me the bedroom."  
  
"Harry, put me down!" Ginny squealed with laughter as Harry picked her up off the sofa and began to carry her towards the nearest door. "Harry, that's the bathroom not the bedroom!"  
  
"We could always have a shower then?" He said wiggling his eyebrows at her. "OK, love, point me the way to go."  
  
"Second door on the left...I think," said Ginny wiggling her eyebrows seductively back at Harry.  
  
*~*  
  
Ginny rolled over still partially asleep, hearing a soft tapping sound and reached over onto Harry's side of the bed, but got nothing but a handful of empty sheet. "Harry?" she said aloud looking around the room for Harry and searching for the tapping noise. "Artemius?" she said shocked at the owl perched on the windowsill.  
  
Ginny jumped out of bed and slid up the window allowing the owl to hop in, which stuck out its leg immediately to show the attached note. She pulled the note free from Hermione's barn owl, gently stroked his feathers and then unrolled the parchment.  
  
_Ginny and Harry,_  
  
I am just sending you this to let you know Ron is still being a prat. I tried talking with him after you left, but he wanted to play stupid as usual. It is probably for the best right now that Harry and you are away on your own. I know where you are, but I did not tell Ron my suspicions, only that you were probably hiding in Godric's Hollow. Give me a little time to work Ron over before you two come back to the Burrow. I will let you know when the dust clears away from here.  
  
Love from,  
Hermione  
  
Ginny folded the note and placed it on the nightstand before getting dressed and making her way through the flat to find Harry. After making her way around and not finding him inside, she let herself out the side door and down the back stairs. As she made her way around to the front of her shop she spotted who could only be Harry standing on the far end of the beach and looking out over the water.  
  
"Hey, what brings you out this early?" Ginny asked walking up to Harry and reaching for his hand.  
  
"Part of my morning routine I guess you could say. Every morning I would walk down to the creek in the Hollow and just sit and think," he answered with a smile and taking her offered hand.  
  
"What are your thoughts about today?"  
  
"That is for you to find out at a later date, my dear." Harry said laughing when she hit him on the arm. "Seriously, Gin, I was just doing a bit of private thinking for now. I'll tell you soon, OK?"  
  
"OK, I'll let you keep you secret thoughts to yourself...for now," she said playfully before changing the subject. "Don't you think it's beautiful out here?"  
  
"Yes, but no where near as beautiful as you, love," he said turning to look down into her eyes.  
  
Ginny's face blushed pink at his compliment before releasing his hand and putting her arms around his waist. "I love you, Harry."  
  
"And I love you." Harry responded brushing her windblown hair from her face and then leaned down and placed a gentle but passionate kiss on her lips.  
  
When Harry broke their kiss, Ginny plopped down onto the sand pulling Harry along with her and intertwined their fingers together. "We got a note from Hermione this morning."  
  
"Did she murder Ron for me?" Harry joked.  
  
"Not yet, but she did say Ron was just being Ron, and she wanted us to give her some room to work him over before coming back to the Burrow."  
  
"Unless she is a miracle worker, I will have to put my foot-"  
  
"Harry, just leave it to Hermione for now," she said cutting him off. "When we get back to the Burrow you can have your say to Ron, but I want you to promise me you will not hit him!"  
  
"I won't hit him, but I will have a few things to get off my chest when we get to the Burrow."  
  
Ginny nodded her understanding knowing he would keep his word to her about not getting physical with Ron over the argument that had happened yesterday, assuming of course if the damage between her and her brother was repairable. She snuggled closer to Harry as they sat on the beach and watched as the sun rose higher into the morning sky.


	14. Time in Torquay

**Chapter 14: Time in Torquay**

Ginny was awakened by the sound of the bedroom door opening and closing and then Harry suddenly plopping down onto the bed beside her.  
  
“Planning on sleeping the whole day away, love?”  
  
“That thought had crossed my mind.” Ginny teased with a smile. “What time is it anyway?”  
  
“It’s just past two o'clock.” He replied lying down and running his fingers through her sleep-dishevelled hair.  
  
“I knew we shouldn’t have gone to that Muggle movie theatre so late last night!” said Ginny pulling the sheet over her head.  
  
“It was your idea though, Gin, so you can’t complain to anyone but yourself.”  
  
“I know, Harry, just give me a few minutes to wake up, and we’ll go out for something.”  
  
“Oh, no,” Harry said throwing the sheet off her. “I plan on spending the whole day indoors with nothing to entertain ourselves with except each other.”  
  
“But what about lunch-“  
  
“I’ve got everything covered, Ginny, you won’t have to do anything today but relax.”  
  
“Harry-“  
  
“Nope! I’m not answering anymore questions until you have gotten yourself awake and into the sitting room!” Harry said hopping off the bed and retreating from the room before Ginny could try to ask anything else.  
  
‘Harry can still be as stubborn about things as he was when we were in school,’ Ginny thought with a smile as she got out of bed and made her way into the bathroom for a quick shower before heading out into the sitting room to see what Harry had up his sleeve.  
  
As Ginny made her way into the hall, she immediately noticed Harry had drawn all the shades in the flat and made a pathway into the sitting room lined with alternating pink and white candles. She felt her heart melt as she turned into the sitting room and saw Harry had removed all the furniture except a low table where he had placed a vase of red and white roses between a pink and white taper candle. He had a small fire burning in the fireplace and had placed two blankets and several pillows for them to share next to its warming flames.  
  
“Do you like it?” Harry asked stepping into the room from the kitchen while balancing a tray with a bottle of red wine and two glasses on one hand.  
  
Ginny could only nod her head in surprise at what Harry had put together while she slept as he took her hand and led her to the table.  
  
“I thought this would make a nice change considering we haven’t really done anything special together since coming here,” he said setting the tray down and turning to face her. “Is everything OK?”  
  
“Of course it is, Harry, it’s just that this was totally unexpected,” Ginny replied wiping the tears of joy off her face.  
  
“That was the whole idea, love!” said Harry pulling her into a quick hug and placing a soft kiss on her forehead before pulling out her chair and then sitting down across from her.   
  
“What brought this…this idea on?”   
  
“We’ve been here almost a month, Gin, and we’ve spent most of that time out on the beach or in town eating at little cafes. Not that I mind, but I just thought it was time for us to have an afternoon and a night with just us and nothing else to bother us.”  
  
“But we had nothing in the flat like any of this, Harry, how did you pull all of this off?”  
  
“That part was easy,” he answered with a large grin breaking out on his face. “Every morning when I went for my walk I would make a stop into that little shop on this end of the high street and buy what I wanted a little at a time so you wouldn’t guess what I was up to.”  
  
“And you cooked too?” Ginny asked when a buzzer sounded from the kitchen.  
  
“Of course I did! You didn’t think I couldn't cook now, did you?” Harry asked with a false frown on his face. “I spent five years pretty much isolated in Godric’s Hollow so I had to learn to cook or starve didn’t I?”  
  
“You didn’t need to go through all this just for me, Harry.”  
  
“I did and I will do it whenever I feel you need to just relax and have your every need taken care of, which in my opinion should be very often,” Harry replied giving her hand a kiss before heading out of the sitting room and into the kitchen.  
  
Ginny was amazed by how much effort Harry had put into making today a perfect time for them to just spend almost an entire day and evening in the privacy of the flat. The candles and fire gave the room a romantic glow as if they were sitting outside under the stars and moonlight instead of the small sitting room of the flat. She reached out, took one of the pink roses from the vase, after breathing in its scent, snipped off most of the stem off with her wand, and placed it behind her ear.  
  
“Late lunch is served, Madame or early dinner if you prefer that better,” Harry said re-entering the room carrying a plate in each hand. “Nice touch with the flower, Gin.”  
  
“Thank you, sir,” she answered with a laugh as Harry placed the plates on the table and took his seat across from her.  
  
“So did I do OK?” he asked gesturing to the room with his arm.  
  
“You did better than OK, Harry; I love everything you’ve put together here!” Ginny replied sounding overjoyed. “I just can’t believe you did all this without letting on to what you were up to!”  
  
“Well, we are all allowed our little secrets aren’t we?” he said with a large smile reaching across the table to take her hand. “Besides since you had that stomach bug last week I thought you might need some cheering up a little sooner.”  
  
“I’m glad you did this for me, Harry, because it worked.”  
  
*~*  
  
After the meal, Harry led Ginny to the blankets he had spread on the floor in front of the fire and lying down together, Harry behind Ginny, in the spooning position; they got comfortable for a relaxing evening.  
  
“You know, Harry, your moods have been better since you started those sessions with McAuliffe,” Ginny said turning slightly so she could see his face. “You’re not as distant and quiet with me either.”  
  
“I feel better since and more myself by going, but I’m just glad I won’t have to go back for another three months now.”  
  
“You are more relaxed too.”  
  
“How is that, Gin?”  
  
“Well, when we first got here after your morning walk, you didn’t seem to really want to go out and now you want to go out and about more than me, I think.”  
  
“That was more me being nervous than being uptight I think,” Harry said placing his chin on her shoulder and sitting up on his elbow. “This was all new for me, Ginny, I had never been to the beach before and I was only out of Godric’s Hollow for few days before your row with Ron brought us here.”  
  
“If one good thing came out of that argument with Ron it was that we got to spend this time we’ve had together away from everyone, without any intrusions,” Ginny said rolling over to face Harry. “It has given us the time to really know each other.”  
  
“And what did it tell you about us?”  
  
"That we were made and meant for each other.”  
  
“I'll agree with that.” Harry replied leaning forward to kiss her.  
  
Ginny’s arms went around his neck as his free hand found the small of her back where he began to message her gently with his fingertips. Her hands slipped from around his neck and down to his chest where she pushed him over so he would be on his back before climbing on top and straddling him. As she leaned forward to renew there kisses Harry’s hands slid down her sides and to her waist where he grabbed her t-shirt and pulled it up and off while her fingers began to fumble with the buttons of his shirt.  
  
When Ginny got all of the buttons of his shirt undone he sat up slightly and slipped the rest of the way out of the shirt while she unhooked and tossed away her bra before Harry reached up and pulled her back down so their lips would meet once again. Slowly Harry began to sit up with Ginny still in his lap and began to undo the snap of her jeans before laying her on her back on the blanket and pillows and pulling off and tossing aside the jeans.  
  
“You are so beautiful, Gin, and I promise to love you for the rest of my life,” Harry whispered into her ear before becoming one together for a night of passion.   
  
*~*  
  
Harry was awakened earlier than normal by an annoying tapping noise on the sitting room window. Opening his eyes and glancing about the room without his glasses, he recognized a white blur sitting on the windowsill.  
  
“Morning, Hedwig.” Harry said opening the window just enough for the snowy owl to hop in. “What have you got?”  
  
He reached out and pulled off a short note and a copy of the Daily Prophet that was tied in a sling around her neck.  
  
Harry  
  
I hope you read this before looking through the paper, but I think it is time you got away from Torquay and up to my house before things go awry there.  
  
Hermione  
  
Wondering what Hermione meant about things going awry he opened the Daily Prophet and spread it on the table he had set up last night. On the front page was a photo of him walking on the beach with Ginny holding hands with the large headline reading ‘ ** _Harry Potter Spotted at Long Last!_** ’  
  
Harry Potter, better known as ‘The Boy Who Lived’ has been spotted at long last, _reports Rita Skeeter, special correspondent_. Potter, it seems, has been hiding in the Muggle resort town of Torquay in southern Devon in the Meadfoot Beach area with a female that the Daily Prophet can exclusively reveal to be Miss Ginevra Weasley, the sister of the Head of Magical Games and Sports, Ronald Weasley. When asked for a statement last night, Mr. Weasley told us to ‘shove off or be hexed into next week’. Miss Weasley, a red haired, fair-skinned beauty, who runs a small but successful seasonal restaurant that caters to Muggles during the summer months called _Gin’s_ , has been seen with Potter on several occasions frequenting the local diners on an almost nightly basis. It seems Miss Weasley may be interested in more than Mr. Potter’s heart, an insider has told the Daily Prophet, but his sizable bank account at Gringotts in Diagon Alley. Potter who has rarely been seen in public since his defeat of the Dark Wizard ‘You Know Who’ has always…for more turn to pages two and three  
  
“Damn that woman!” Harry muttered tossing the paper on the table. “Can’t she just leave me alone for once?!”  
  
“What’s the matter, Harry?” Ginny asked sleepily from the blankets on the floor.  
  
“Rita Skeeter found us somehow.”  
  
“What! How can you know?”  
  
Harry picked up the paper off the table and carried it over to Ginny who read the article with a shocked expression on her face.  
  
“How did you find out about this?”  
  
“Hermione sent it in with Hedwig this morning and note telling us to come to Scotland before the circus of reporters descend on Torquay.”  
  
"Well, besides you heart, Harry, it's not your sizable bank account I'm interested in, but your sizable-"  
  
"Ginny!" Harry said with a smile. "I think we need to get of here and head to Hermione's before the flock pounces on us."  
  
Harry helped a laughing Ginny to her feet, and grasping her hand led the way into their bedroom to pack their things up for the unexpected trip to Hermione’s.


	15. Ron and Rita

**Chapter 15: Ron and Rita**

“I was hoping you two would come here right away!” Hermione said rushing over and pulling both Harry and Ginny into a tight hug. “When Ron told me last night that Rita was nosing around the Ministry for information on you, Harry, I knew she was up to her old game again!”  
  
“So, how has Ron been?” Ginny asked returning Hermione’s hug with her own.  
  
“He has been a down right mess since you left, Ginny,” she replied releasing both Ginny and Harry. “But he hasn’t given me a problem nor refused to listen to me since the morning you left so I would say he seems to have straightened up in seeing he might lose you and Harry over his stupidity.”  
  
“What I want to know is,” Harry spoke up sitting down at Hermione’s table. “How did Rita find us?”  
  
“My guess is it was luck that she just happened to get a glance of you while snooping around on someone else and started tailing you,” Hermione answered.  
  
“You haven’t been seen by the wizarding community in ages, Harry, and that cow just saw an opportunity to get her name in print again,” Ginny said sitting down next to Harry. “People have been questioning your whereabouts in the Prophet and Witch Weekly the whole time you’ve been gone, love, and, honestly, whether you agree with me or not, this may turn out to be a good thing.”  
  
“What good can come about from Rita writing her lies about me?” Harry asked hotly.  
  
“You can march right into the offices of the Daily Prophet on Monday morning and give them exactly what they want!” she replied taking his hands in her own. “Sooner or later this was bound to happen, and instead of hiding from all the reporters and getting your name tossed into the mud, you can get someone with credibility to speak with.”  
  
Harry fell into silent thought as Hermione backed out of the kitchen to give them a moment of privacy during this discussion. He took a deep breath and turned back to look at Ginny who was still holding his hands. “All right I’ll do it, but I don’t know where the Daily Prophet is located, Gin.”  
  
“All I know, Harry, is it is in London,” replied Ginny. “But I do know someone who may know can point us to it.”  
  
“Hermione?”  
  
“No, Harry, Ron,” Ginny said softly. “But going through him is going to mean repairing our relationship with him.”  
  
“If you are ready to do what needs to be done to fix things with Ron, then I’ll try and be civil towards him until I have my say.”  
  
“That will have to do I guess, but just remember your promise to me, Harry.”  
  
He nodded his head to show he remembered his promise not to hit Ron no matter how he felt at the moment. Even though a month had gone by since that incident, at the thought of finally seeing Ron again, Harry felt anger and tension beginning to build up inside him. As Ginny stood, he allowed himself to be led along behind her as she made her into the sitting where Hermione was now sitting going through the copy of today’s Daily Prophet once again.  
  
“Hermione, we had a thought on-” Ginny started.  
  
“I heard most of what you said to each other before you had a moment of privacy, Ginny,” Hermione said cutting her off. “And I agree that you may need to let the wizarding community know what has been going on with you, Harry. I don’t trust the thoughts of using the Daily Prophet, but we’ll figure out that part later.”  
  
“What about what Rita wrote?” Harry asked.  
  
“Leave Rita to me, I think I have a way to get to her since her office isn’t at the Prophet.”  
  
“What did you have in mind?”  
  
“Well, it’s going to involve Ron if you two are ready for that.”  
  
“We discussed him a few minutes ago and want to try and repair whatever we can.” Ginny answered while Harry gave a feeble nod.  
  
“If you would like, I could head to the Burrow and let Ron know you two would like to talk things over with him without just popping in on him, and then we’ll discuss what to do about Rita,” Hermione said before Apparating away leaving them alone.  
  
“Is it just me or do you think Hermione had all of this worked out in her head before we got here?” Harry asked sounding bewildered.  
  
“Knowing her she probably did, Harry,” Ginny answered with a laugh before leading Harry back towards the kitchen to wait and give Hermione time to chase Ron out of bed.  
  
*~*  
  
Hermione Apparated directly into the Burrow’s kitchen and then made her way up the narrow staircase to Ron’s room after checking that he hadn’t dozed off in his recliner like he did so often over the past month. As she made her way up the stairs, his snores began to reach her ears through the morning silence of the Burrow. Without knocking she slowly pushed open the door and stuck her head in for a quick check that he was decent unlike the last time she tried to rouse him earlier than normal.  
  
“Ron, wake up,” she said giving him a gentle shake to begin with not wanting to startle him too badly. “Ronald, wake up!”  
  
“Wassit?” Ron asked groggily sitting up so suddenly he almost bumped heads with Hermione who was leaned over the bed.  
  
“Ron,” Hermione said firmly grabbing his chin so he was looking at her instead of squinting at his clock. “Ginny is on her way here to talk some things over with you and I think it would be best if you were out of this bed for it!”  
  
“Ginny’s coming here?” Ron asked.  
  
“That is what I said, and if you were listening you would have heard me the first time.”  
  
“What…what about Harry?”  
  
“What are you worried about?” Hermione asked when Ron paled at her nod. “They are coming to reconcile with you, not kill you. Now, get up!”  
  
But…but...I…” Ron’s voice trailed away at the look Hermione gave him as she made her way out of his room, which clearly said she was not going to settle with anything less than for him to be out of bed and downstairs quickly.  
  
Ron heaved in a large breath that felt as if it would stick in his throat and choke him from the butterflies that were now busy fluttering around his midsection. He had wanted to talk with Ginny and Harry since that last day he had made a fool of himself and had played the scene over in his mind, but now that the time had come for them to see each other again he was not so sure. He tossed back the quilt that was covering him and placed his feet onto the cold floor with a shiver that might not have been from the cold and made his way into the bathroom to try to compose himself enough to head downstairs and get things settled with Ginny.  
  
Hermione settled herself at the kitchen table after starting the kettle for a pot of coffee in hopes of getting Ron awake enough for Ginny, but mostly for Harry, assuming of course Ginny let him near Ron, since she was sure he was not at all too thrilled to be seeing him so soon. The kettle had just begun to emit its whistle when Ron stuck his head around the edge of the kitchen door.  
  
“I though Ginny and Harry were here.”  
  
“Not yet, Ron, but they will probably be here in a few more minutes.” Hermione said rolling her eyes at his apprehensiveness from where she was standing at the stove. “Now, if you’ll just sit down and listen to Ginny when she gets here, everything will be fine.”  
Ron nodded and popped down into his seat just as Hermione placed a cup of coffee in front of him along with the Daily Prophet folded to that morning’s article on Harry and Ginny.  
  
“What is this?”  
  
“Just read it, Ron, and it will tell you everything you need to know,” Hermione answered as she sat down next to him and placed a comforting hand on his.  
  
“That bitch!” Ron said indignantly after finishing the article. “Is this the reason they are coming back here?”  
  
“Yes and no,” she answered. “They are going to be staying with me at least until the holidays are over with, and I believe they will moving into a secluded place of their own away from prying eyes.”  
  
“How do you know?”  
  
“I can’t say anything more right now, Ron, so please don’t ask, but I believe they want some sort of revenge on Rita after this article and need your help to do it.”  
  
“My help?” Ron asked bewildered some of the colour returning to his face. “What can I do to get at Rita?”  
  
“Well, if you read the article thoroughly enough then you would have realised she came to you for a statement about Harry and Ginny’s relationship.”  
  
“She did come to me and I told her to bugger off, but that doesn’t tell me how I can help.”  
  
A burst of green flames from the large fireplace announced the arrival of Ginny and Harry before Hermione could give him her reasoning. They stepped from the fireplace holding hands, Harry brushing the ashes away from her shoulders. One look at Ron told Ginny all she needed to know and that was Ron was very nervous about Harry being here; and with the look in Harry’s eyes, who could really blame him? She would just have to hold Harry back from Ron at least until Rita was dealt with.  
  
“Ginny…er…Harry…it’s good to see…you both,” Ron said slowly, but still stammering his words holding a hand out to Harry. “Right…er…” he tried to say when Harry did not bother to shake his offered hand while his face wore an expression similar to Snape’s whenever they showed up late for Potions.  
  
“It’s good to see you too, Ron.” Ginny said quickly realising Harry was not going to forgive Ron as easily as she was and released Harry’s hand to give Ron a hug. Harry’s expression never changed as he inclined his head in Ron’s direction and sat down across from Hermione. “I see you didn’t try too hard at cleaning up after yourself around here,” she said with a smile looking around the kitchen and seeing the dishes piled there.  
  
“Well, Hermione has been around whenever she could since I’m not all that great at housekeeping spells.”  
  
“How have you been?”  
  
“OK, I guess, except for feeling foolish and disgusted at myself over how I acted towards you since Mum and Dad died.”  
  
“Ron,” she started, but knew she was going to say this despite how Harry felt towards him right now, and reached across the table to give his hand a squeeze. “I’m willing to forgive you for all that nonsense and just move on and start over clean.”  
  
Harry gave Ginny a quick glance before looking back at Ron with his stony stare to let him know without words that he was not off the hook with him just yet. Ron noticed this as soon as he looked over at Harry and gave a quick nod before looking back at Ginny.  
  
“Hermione was telling me just before you got here you wanted me to do something to get at Rita?” he asked wanting to change the subject before Harry spoke up.   
  
“I was saying, Ron,” Hermione said while Ginny just looked confused at his question. “That since Rita came to you last night wanting information, why not send her a letter today saying you’ll grant her an interview so you can spill the beans on Harry and Ginny?”  
  
“Why would I do that though?”  
  
“Tell the ruddy cow you’ve had a falling out and you want to get back at them for wronging you!” Hermione said exasperated. “Sometimes you are just too thick for your own good.”  
  
“That is a great idea, Hermione,” Ginny said catching on to what she was talking about. “And when you meet up with her to tell her all about us, we come out of hiding and give her what she’s got coming to her.”  
  
*~*  
  
Ron paced back and forth behind his desk waiting for Rita to show up any minute now while Harry, Ginny and Hermione waited in the small meeting room across the hall. Tired of pacing, he dropped himself into his chair just as the door opened with flurry and in walked Rita dressed in magenta robes and hair done up elaborately, with her jewelled glasses sparkling in his false window where sunlight was streaming in.  
  
“Mr. Weasley, so glad you had a change of heart about talking with me about your sister’s relationship with the reclusive Harry Potter.”   
  
“No…no problem…err…please sit down?” Ron asked more than said his nervousness showing through.  
  
“Of course, but there is no need to be nervous, Mr. Weasley, I don’t bite,” she said with a girlish laugh as she sat down and open her crocodile skin bag, bringing out a piece of parchment and her dreaded acid green Quick Quotes Quill. “Now what is it you want the world to know about your sister and Harry?”  
  
“Actually I want you to know some things, Rita,” Harry said coming into Ron’s office followed by Ginny and Hermione who closed the door.  
  
“Mr. Potter how wonderful of you to drop in and your lovely lust…ahem…love interest Virginia…”  
  
“Ginevra,” Ginny corrected through gritted teeth.  
  
“…Weasley, and your other former girlfriend from school, Ms. Grainer,” she continued as if Ginny had not spoken and smiled at Hermione with her blatant mispronunciations. “You’re not enjoying nightly ménage trios’ with these lovely ladies are you?”   
  
Hermione flicked her wand at the acid green quill that was zooming across the parchment with blurring speed and it suddenly burst into flame with a small squeak and landed on the floor along with the parchment as a pile of ash.  
  
“You silly girl, you think I don’t remember you as the one who tried to blackmail me for my…unregistered animagus form several years ago? If you think that foolishness will work now, you are having the wrong thoughts, missy!”  
  
“We don’t care about your ridiculous animagus form, Rita,” Harry said as Hermione, Ginny and Ron blocked her from leaving the room in any direction. “But now that you mention it, I would have no second thoughts about forcing you into your roach form and squashing you into the carpet.”  
  
“I’m a beetle not a roach!” she replied indignantly.  
  
“It really makes no difference to me, Rita; they both make that nice crunch and popping noise when you apply pressure with your foot.”   
  
“Now see here, Harry, you just can’t…well...it would be murder!”  
  
“Look at me, Rita, because if you can see it in my eyes it, will tell you I could give less than a shit if it was, in your case.”  
  
“Harry…you can’t just…it would-”  
  
With a flick of his wand, Rita’s voice was silenced as he kneeled down in front of her chair. “You see, Rita, for years you’ve been spreading lies so you could get paid, not caring a bit for the people or their families that get stabbed by your damnable quill so why should I care if you were squashed into a gooey mess?”  
  
Rita opened her mouth and tried to speak, but could only manage a weak croaking noise and settled for shaking her head furiously back and forth.  
  
“You aren’t sorry one bit for the pain and intrusions you’ve caused people, are you, Rita? You been the bug in my hair since my forth year at Hogwarts, except for my fifth year when you actually printed something worth reading since it was neck on the line then too!” Harry took a breath and looked at his feet for moment. “I’ve made my mind up, Rita, and there is no changing it.”  
  
Harry stood and flicked his wand at Rita whose petrified face was emitting silent screams of pleading before being forced in her beetle form, which Harry scooped tightly in his hand before she could fly away. He walked to the back of Ron’s office and entered a tiny bathroom that only had a toilet, sink and small mirror.  
  
“You see, Rita, you’ve just shit on too many people not to expect someone to get payback eventually. Right now you’re getting off easy compared to what I would like to do with you, such as squashing you into the carpet or feeding you to Hedwig. I think a nice ride into London’s sewers should give you quite a message,” he reached out with his other hand and raised the seat of the toilet up while the beetle gave of a loud buzzing of protest.   
  
“Now, if I let you off will you ever write another horrid story about anyone?” The beetle stopped buzzing immediately. “I’m going to take that silence as a yes,” Harry turned from the toilet and made for the door, but once he felt the beetle relax, he turned rapidly, threw the beetle into the water, and gave the toilet a flush. He made his back into Ron’s office where Ginny, Ron, and Hermione were visibly holding in their laughter. “Well, it should hurt nothing, but her pride seeing as how shit usually floats to the surface,” he said dissolving into laughter with the others.

 


	16. Holiday Surprises

**Chapter 16: Holiday Surprises**   


Harry sat at Hermione’s small breakfast table leafing through a copy of _Witch Weekly_. A few days after his ‘talk’ with Rita Skeeter, he had given a small interview to a new reporter a year out of Hogwarts named Jonathan Garnett. Now, two days before Christmas, it had arrived in the morning post with a small note of gratitude from Mr. Garnett with whom he and Ginny had enjoyed talking things over. Harry had told the young reporter everything he had been doing in the last five years with the exception of his drinking problem. He also voiced his opinion about the article Rita had written last week, a small press item about Willy Widdershin’s return to bewitching Muggle toilets to regurgitate again, and what he may do with himself now that he no longer considered himself a recluse.  
  
Just as he found the article in question, a noise from upstairs reminded him that Hermione and Ginny had left him alone in the house with Ron for a bit of last minute shopping in Diagon Alley. With a scowl, he shock out the magazine and sat back in the chair so when Ron decided to come down maybe, just maybe he would not have to look at him just yet.  
  
“Morning, Harry,” Ron said as he peeked into the kitchen, receiving a grunt not unlike Vernon Dursley’s in response. “Er…Hermione and Ginny gone out for the day?”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“Is that the issue your interview is in?” Ron asked sitting down across from Harry hoping to try to gain some ground in repairing their friendship.  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“Did Hermione say when they would be back?” he asked trying to get some kind of communication going between them.  
  
“No.”  
  
“Have you already got Ginny’s Christmas present?” Ron asked hoping for something other than ‘yes’ or ‘no’ out of him.  
  
“Just because you and Ginny have settled things between yourselves doesn’t mean I’m ready to settle them, Ron,” Harry said lowering the magazine just enough to see over the top. “I consider it a low blow to her and me what you said to her, regardless if you meant it or not, because it hurt her more than she has let on to you.”  
  
“At least she has attempted to-”  
  
“She is your sister, Ron. Did you expect her to hate you for the rest of her life?” he asked tossing the magazine on the table as a lost cause. “It is easier to forgive others if they are family.”  
  
“We are like family too, Harry, despite how you are looking at things. You spent nearly every summer here with us at the Burrow, and you yourself were calling my parents Mum and Dad by the time our seventh year started!” Ron said trying to break through Harry’s stubbornness. “You lived with us after graduation up until Vol…Voldemort tried to attack Hogwarts and Ginny graduated!”  
  
“Ron, I don’t want to talk-”  
  
“It doesn’t matter if you do or not, Harry, because Hermione and Ginny only went to Diagon Alley today to give us some space to work through this before Christmas because they didn’t want the tension to spoil things!” he continued over Harry, trying his best to get a mutual agreement of no resentment between them around the girls for starters. “When you went up to bed early last night, Hermione and Ginny both wanted me to try and get you to say something to me other than the stony look of Harry Snape!”  
  
“What kind of look?”   
  
“Well…er…that is what Ginny says you look like when you get that cold look in your eyes,” Ron muttered quietly half-expecting Harry to begin yelling.  
  
“It can’t be that bad, can it?” Harry asked with a laugh trying to make the expression while looking at his distorted reflection in the back of his spoon. “Well, it was not my intention to give a Harry Snape…damn that sounds strange almost like an obscure disease for your bits or something…”  
  
“It was a bit of a cold look like Snape’s anyway, but I thought you just looked like you were ready to kick my arse.”  
  
“I wanted to do just that, but Ginny made me swear that I wouldn’t hit you no matter how much I wanted to.”  
  
“Harry, I really am truly sorry for the way that I treated Ginny after Mum and Dad died, and if she can forgive me and accept that then why can’t you?”  
  
“It is easier for her to let things go since you are her brother, but for me, Ron, I see Ginny as my future, and if you said those things to her in the past to try and have some kind of control on things then what is there to stop you from ever doing it again?”  
  
“For starters there is Hermione with her wand and you with your temper,” Ron said blushing slightly and looking Harry in the eyes. “I know that you plan on taking care of Ginny for the rest of your life, Harry, and I am in no position what so ever to tell her how she can live her life!”  
  
“Nor can I tell her how to live, Ron. All I can do is support her in whatever she wants to do. If she wants to continue to run her business in Torquay, then I’ll work alongside her to make it better than it already is, but if she decides to let her friends take it over for her then she can do that too!” he said with a passion Ron had never heard from Harry before. “I’m going to be beside her in whatever endeavour she wants to undertake.”  
  
“I didn’t think that you wouldn’t support her, Harry. I was just saying I wouldn’t be sticking my nose into her business anymore.”  
  
“And I was laying my intentions with Ginny out to you to try and let you know I wasn’t going to leave her broken-hearted and pregnant to boot, as you put it,” Harry said bitterly.  
  
“I guess I deserved to hear you say that to me.”  
  
“Yes, you did and believe me, I want to say worse, but I’m not.”  
  
“Are we ever going to be on the same page about things again, Harry?”  
  
“Right now I’m going to say things between us are going to be day to day, Ron, but mostly for Ginny’s sake, I’m considering giving you a chance to redeem yourself in my eyes.”  
  
Ron nodded and leaned back in his chair, a wave of relief coming off his shoulders since Harry was willing to attempt to repair the mess he had started.  
  
*~*  
  
Christmas morning dawned bright and white with several inches of new snowfall that fell overnight. The four spent most of the morning sitting around Hermione’s fireplace and talking about their favourite Christmas memories and had decided, much to Ron’s displeasure, to swap gifts later in the day.  
  
“Can we swap presents now, Hermione?” Ron whined after an early dinner.  
  
“Yes, Ronald, just wait for us to get in there with you!” Hermione wound up yelling as Ron bolted for the sitting room as soon as the word ‘yes’ left her mouth. “Every Christmas is the same with him. ‘Can we open presents now, Hermione?’ ‘Is it time to open them yet, Hermione?’ He will ask every five minutes until I relent, I think.”  
  
“Ron was that way with Mum too if Dad wound up having to work at the Ministry on Christmas and we couldn’t open them right away, so don’t let him get under your skin.”  
  
“Well, I don’t have the nerves of steel that Mrs. Weasley had when it came to him either, but you would still think he would have outgrown this part of himself.”  
  
“Not Ron! When he’s ninety he will still bounce off the walls during Christmas with excitement like a three year old in the middle of a full blown sugar rush,” Ginny answered with a laugh. “Are you excited, Ron or do you have to go to the bathroom?” she continued when they entered Hermione’s sitting room finding Ron standing in front of the Christmas tree hopping up and down on the balls of his feet with excitement.  
  
Ron just scowled at Harry as he and Ginny sat down on the sofa and Hermione made her way over to Ron to get him to hopefully sit down before she passed around the gifts to everyone. Shoving Ron into her large armchair and handing him a bulky package from Harry to calm him down a bit, she passed around everyone else’s gifts before settling down on the floor in front of Ron and leaning back on his legs for support.  
  
“Nice one, Harry!” Ron exclaimed pulling on a bright orange jacket with the double C and Cannonball emblem on the back that marked his favourite Quidditch team, the Chudley Cannons, which as usual clashed horribly with his hair.   
  
Harry just nodded nervously as he opened Hermione’s gift, which was predictably a book titled _‘Healing the Soul with Meditation’_. He looked over at Ginny who had yet to notice that she had not received his present yet then eyed the rectangular shaped package that was in what appeared to be a manila envelope in his lap from her. Instead, he turned his attention to Ron’s gift, which turned out to be predictable Ron, a box of sweets from Honeydukes in Hogsmeade. Setting the box of sweets aside he was about to open the envelope when Ginny spoke up.  
  
“Harry, did you forget to put your present under the tree last night?”  
  
“Oh…er…I must have, but I have it here in my pocket,” He answered fumbling inside his pocket for a moment and bringing out a small letter in a red envelope.  
  
“This isn’t a Howler is it?” She asked taking the envelope with some apprehension.  
  
“No, it’s not a Howler, but something similar…er…Hermione helped me with it over the past few days.”  
  
“You knew what he was up to and didn’t let me know?” Ginny teased looking at Hermione.  
  
“All he had me do was to fix up the letter, but I didn’t read what he wrote.”  
  
Ginny turned her attention back to the letter and opened the flap expecting it to suddenly start speaking, but when nothing happened she pulled out not a letter but a small card, which began to chime out ‘You Are So Beautiful’ like a music box. The inside of the card was totally blank and when she looked towards Harry for an explanation she found him kneeled down in front of her on one knee.  
  
“Ginny, I was going to do this back in Torquay before Rita Skeeter found out where we were and pretty much disturbed the way we were living at the time,” Harry started stopping and chewing his bottom lip occasionally like she would if she were as nervous as he appeared to be. “There is a lot I would like to say to you, but if I said it all then we would likely be here until Christmas was over so I’ll try and keep this simple. After the way I forced myself to live after the war, there were days I really wanted to end everything and just let go off life, but then I would picture your face in my mind and I couldn’t do it…I couldn’t let go of life without letting you know the way I felt. I tried one time to tell you how I felt, but Ron wisely sent me home before I made a drunken fool of myself…did he ever tell you that?”  
  
“Yes, he told me right after the press conference was over that day, and I wanted so much to find you, but he and Hermione convinced me it would have been useless since you may have been smart enough to place certain wards around your hiding place,” Ginny said softly.   
  
“You know…er…the wards that are in place there would have kept everyone out, but you, Ginny.” Harry said blushing slightly before continuing. “Since I pulled myself out of my hole in Godric’s Hollow to come to Hermione’s little reunion dinner on Halloween and I got to see you again, you have been my beacon of hope and life for the future...I love you and I want us spend the rest of our lives together…Ginny, will you marry me?” he finished while pulling out a small black box and opening it to reveal a white gold band with a diamond set between two emeralds.  
  
“Yes,” Ginny said softly with tears streaming down her face. Harry slipped the ring onto her finger and sat down next to her on the sofa bringing her into a loving embrace before placing a soft kiss on her lips.  
  
Harry released Ginny, who leaned her head over on his shoulder, and turned his attention back to his gift from Ginny. Sliding his finger under the edge of the envelope’s flap, he opened the package and slid out the contents. Inside were a sheet of paper and what appeared to be several grainy moving black and white photos of something that resembled a tiny creature with appendages.  
  
“What is...?” Harry stared now shuffling the photos and turning them around to see if they made better sense. “Is this…are you…we…?”   
  
“Harry, I’m pregnant,” Ginny said with a smile at Harry’s expression of comprehension.  
  
“I’m…father…we’re going to…have…parents?” Harry stuttered stupidly.  
  
“Yes, we are going to be parents so that means you are going to be a father, Harry,” she answered pulling Harry into a hug as a wide smile spread over his face replacing his deer in the headlights look. He pulled back for a moment and looked as if he were about to say something and then pulled her close and kissed her passionately.

 


	17. Thoughts on the Year Ahead

**Chapter 17: Thoughts on the Year Ahead**

Harry woke early on New Years Day to find the sun shining bright off the snow covering Hermione’s garden. Grabbing his glasses off the nightstand and placing a soft kiss on Ginny’s forehead, he quietly padded his way into the bathroom for his morning ritual and a change of clothes before heading for his morning walk. After a quick shower, Harry made his way down the stairs not wanting to disturb the almost quietness of the house. Ron, who had more than enough to drink last night, was snoring loudly from the sofa in the sitting room creating the only noise that could be heard inside.  
  
A smile broke out on his face as he closed the kitchen door and made his way out onto the back porch overlooking Hermione’s snow covered garden and the cliff side ahead. Last night had been the first time in a long time they had all sat together and really talked and had a few laughs, mostly at Ron’s indulgence in too much champagne. Hermione herself had had a little too much drink also, but she kept her head and did her best not to let on the state she was in. Ginny had one small glass at midnight and Harry had stuck to Butterbeer. Ron had cleared nearly two bottles by the time one am had arrived, and he Ginny had retired for the night. Merlin only knew how much he had before finally passing out on the sofa, but Ginny would make sure that breakfast would be a noisy affair today if he had a hangover.  
  
Stopping at the edge of the cliff that looked out onto the eastern coastline of Scotland, he cleared off an outcropping of rocks with his wand and made himself as comfortable as possible. His outlook on his life ahead had changed drastically over the past week. He had been planning to pop the question to Ginny for over a month, but it seemed as if he had asked at the perfect time. When she squeaked out ‘yes’ his heart did a back flip and still did as he thought of it again today, but when he open her gift he was floored. Somewhere in his mind before he looked at the little moving photos he knew that he knew what he was about to look at without reading the letter included.  
  
He was going to be a father! The excitement and nervousness coursed through his veins and pounded into his head and heart making them both swell with pride and love. He and Ginny were going to be proud parents of twin girls! He was just a little crestfallen to find out he would not have a son yet, but somehow having twins seemed to replace that momentary grip of disappointment. If either of the girls turned out exactly like Ginny or Mrs. Weasley, they were done for with the tempers they were likely to inherit. Ginny was only a month along and they really had not started tossing out possible names yet and most of their talks pertained to the wedding plans.   
  
Harry and Ginny had settled on the first day of spring and were right now planning it to be held in the privacy of the Burrow. Ron and Hermione would be keeping their ears and eyes open at the Ministry making sure none of the information about the wedding and more importantly the pregnancy was going to be leaked to the Prophet. As far as Harry knew, only family and close friends would be attending, and only family would be advised of Ginny’s current condition. Of course, once Ginny gave birth, they would no longer be able to keep things quiet; St. Mungo’s policy on births was to give the Ministry’s Department of Vital Statistics all necessary information on children born to magical parents. Regardless of their wishes, Harry was willing to bet the contents of his Gringotts vault that the Ministry would not sit on that type of press coverage no matter what he and Ginny asked of them.   
  
Getting up from his seat on the rocks Harry began to walk down the little footpath he had made since he and Ginny started staying with Hermione nearly a month ago. He needed to begin looking into buying a home that Ginny and he could begin their lives together and raise their newly forming family. If there was one thing, he did not want the Ministry or the Daily Prophet to know where he had decided to settle down with his soon to be family. Sighing and jamming his hands deeper into his jacket pockets, he walked on towards the little cluster of trees that made up part of his walking track. Later in the week when he accompanied Ginny to St. Mungo’s for a check-up, he would mention his thoughts about needing to find a place before the wedding.  
  
As he made his way into the little cluster of trees, Harry thought to himself that he would like to have his home in a wooded area away from anyone, but of course, Ginny would probably want to be near Ron or Hermione with twins on the way just in case something went wrong. That way she could send a Patronus message if she could not make it to the fireplace to send for help. Harry, however, did not want to live too far away from a civilized area and was thinking about returning to Southern Devon because the time they had shared on the beach had been great. But then again he did not know. That line of thought was better left until later, when he could talk with Ginny.  
  
He followed the path as it circled through the woods and across a now frozen stream that zigzagged on the edge of Hermione’s property before making its way down the hillside and emptying out into the little river that ran through the town down below. As he made his way back into the open air the wind let him know he had probably walked and thought a little too long as now his cheeks and nose were very numb. Pulling his collar up against the wind, he made his way back towards Hermione’s house, his thoughts turning back to his coming fatherhood.  
  
He knew he would never treat his daughters the way the Dursleys had treated him. He would show his daughters equal love and affection, praise them on their accomplishments in life and never put them down for any reason what so ever. He could picture himself now holding one tiny little girl in each arm while lying back in his recliner talking and cooing softly to them as they slipped off to sleep. He would always be there to help Ginny out with the girls and never leave it all to her, dirty nappies or not! Harry’s outlook on this year just got better; a house to find, a beautiful girl to marry, and the best thing of all, bringing two healthy and happy girls into this world. Things were looking up for Ginny and himself the more he thought things over.  
  
As he made his way onto the back porch, he caught the smell of Hermione starting up breakfast, and stamping the snow off his boots he went inside to get warm and give a helping hand.  
  
“Morning, Hermione.”  
  
“Oh, Harry, you were out early for your walk,” Hermione said a little startled. “Did the smell of breakfast bring you in?”  
  
“No, it was the cold. I got lost in my thoughts as usual and stayed out a bit too long,” Harry answered hanging his jacket across the back of a chair and moving closer to the fire. “If you want, after I warm up, I could give you a hand.”  
  
“You should know by now, Harry that I will not turn down help in the kitchen.”  
  
“Has Ron started his recovery yet?” he asked rubbing his hands together less than a foot away from the flames.  
  
“He was still out when I pulled the blanket back over him a few minutes ago, but I guess he’ll need some strong coffee and something for a headache before too much longer.”  
  
“You mean you’re going to take mercy on his hangover today?”  
  
“I’ll make him suffer a little, but not long.”  
  
“Just long enough to give him a sermon?” Harry asked a smile playing on his lips. “I’m going to have a peek in at Ginny and then I’ll be back to _help_ you out.”  
  
“Very funny, Harry.”  
  
Harry just waved Hermione off as he made his way upstairs to the room he was currently sharing with Ginny. He opened the door slowly and closed it as quietly as possible before making his way over to the bed. As he sat down Ginny rolled over and squinted up at him.  
  
“Is it time to get up?”  
  
“Only if you want to get up, love.”  
  
“What I want is for you to lay here and warm me up; it’s cold.”  
  
Harry nodded, kicked off his boots and crawled into bed next to Ginny. As soon as he propped himself up on his elbow, she had already burrowed her body up against his seeking out his body heat.  
  
“You know, I was supposed to just peek in on you before going to help Hermione cook.”  
  
“I think you mean cook while Hermione complains nothing turns out right for her,” Ginny replied not opening her eyes, but still smiling. “Why don’t you just lay here with me until you smell something burning?”  
  
Just as Harry placed his arms around Ginny, the smell of burning bacon wafted up the stairs causing them both to break out into giggles.


	18. Making Plans

**Chapter 18: Making Plans**

Harry sat at Hermione’s small breakfast table scanning through several catalogues, which featured decorations for weddings. Ginny had handed them to him after saving Hermione from her adventure in bacon cooking and had circled several items of interest to her in silver pattern over the past few days and wanted his opinion of them. In his opinion, what Ginny wanted was fine by him, but he looked through them to satisfy her need to involve him in the planning of things. He would be at the front of the congregation of friends and family even if she had decorated the Burrow’s garden in black while wearing a dress to match.  
  
“You still going through those?” Ron asked pointing to the stack of catalogues, still looking sick from his night of drinking last night.  
  
“Can’t get enough of them,” Harry answered sarcastically. “What brings you down from the silence of Hermione’s library so soon?”  
  
“Ginny has the Wireless turned up to full blast in the bathroom and singing along at the top of her lungs while she’s in there running out all of the hot water!” Ron answered his head sinking down into his arms.  
  
“I guess that means Hermione is still holding out on the cure for your headache then?”  
  
“She’ll hold out until I relent and listen to her about the evils of over indulgence in alcohol,” he answered never lifting his head, sounding as if he were speaking through a cardboard tube. “It’s not like I’ll be looking at a bottle of anything for the next three months.”  
  
“That would mean you don’t plan on drinking again until your birthday then,” Harry said while nonchalantly turning pages of a catalogue with table settings featured throughout. “If that’s the case then maybe you should take Hermione’s sermon; unless you want one from a former drunk.”  
  
“I think I’ll just stick with Hermione’s speech.”  
  
“I think its better that way since I may get long winded and then you won’t have to make out with me after we talk…unless that is what you had in mind?”  
  
Ron lifted his head and raised his eyebrows at Harry, who was visibly holding back his laughter, then gave him a hearty punch on the shoulder. “You know, hanging around with Ginny has rubbed off on you, Harry, and I don’t mean that in a positive way either.”  
  
“We just have a different view at what is and what isn’t a positive change for me, Ron.”  
  
“How did she rope you into going through all those catalogues anyway?” Ron asked changing the subject before he could screw up and say something Harry may take wrong.  
“Believe me I didn’t volunteer for it, but when she asked I said I would and in the end I will just agree with what she has in mind. That way she gets to have the wedding she wants,” Harry answered still just turning pages. “Anyway she will have a better taste in what gets chosen than I will.”  
  
“Morning, Ron! How is that thick head of yours this morning?” Ginny asked loudly when she entered the kitchen.  
  
Ron groaned and let his head fall back down onto his arms when Ginny sat down between Harry and himself and ruffled his hair.  
  
“I take it you haven’t had that talk with Hermione yet then?”  
  
“No, but since you are more than a little bright and bubbly this morning I think it’s time I go and get it over with,” Ron said getting to his feet a little unsteadily and plodded up the stairs.  
  
“You find anything in those that catches your eye yet?” Ginny asked when Ron had left them alone.  
  
“Gin, I don’t mind going through these only because you asked, but in all honesty, wouldn’t it be better if you just find exactly what you want? All I want at our wedding is you by my side at the altar.”  
  
“OK,” Ginny said softly as she put her arms around Harry and gave him a soft kiss. “Are you sure you would just rather me make all those decisions?”  
  
“Very sure…I have no idea even where to begin about centrepieces or colours for napkins,” Harry answered pulling her into his lap. “But I have something I would like to talk over with you now that we have this settled for now.”   
  
“Sure, what do you have on your mind?”  
  
“I don’t know if you’ve had any thoughts about where we are going to live after we are married, but I know we can’t stay with Hermione much longer and I don’t think we would be comfortable living with Ron at the Burrow either.”  
  
“I agree, Harry, and I’ve thought about what we might like, but nothing serious yet.”  
  
“Well, when I was on my walk this morning, I was thinking maybe of three different areas where we could call home. So I thought we could look into something on the Devon coast, or in Wales around Cardiff, or maybe a place near Sheffield called Castleton which would put us between Hermione here in Edinburgh and Ron in Ottery St. Catchpole.”  
  
“I see you’ve put some thought into this!” Ginny said brushing Harry’s fringe off his forehead. “Well, I would rule out the coast in the summer months at least because of the tourists, but as a winter home maybe we could look into it for that. However, if I had to pick between Cardiff and Castleton I would go with Castleton because I know deep down you would prefer a wooded area for your walks.”  
  
“Is it that obvious?”  
  
“Not really, but I know you would enjoy yourself a little more if we were secluded within nature, and in all honesty it would be better for the girls, too.”  
  
“Well, what do you say we take a trip for a few days to look around for something we both might like?”  
  
“And I’ll say yes to wherever we go as long as we get some time on our own for a bit.”  
  
“Of course…I wouldn’t have any other way.” Harry answered placing his forehead against hers and placed a small kiss on the tip of her nose causing her to laugh. “I wonder if Hermione relented into giving Ron that potion for his head?”  
  
“Well, since there is no audible bickering floating down the stairs I would say she has had her say to him and he got off easier than he should have for daring to drink that much on a single evening.”  
  
“And speaking of drinking, do you think it was OK for you to have that glass of champagne last night?”  
  
“I doubt any harm was done from that small glass, but if it’ll make you feel better I will refuse to have anything stronger than tea until the girls are born.”  
  
“It will and it does,” he answered cupping her face in his hands and kissing her tenderly.  
  
*~*  
  
Harry and Ginny spent a few days travelling to perspective places of interest for their future home, but until their visit to Castleton situated outside Sheffield, they had come up empty handed. While spending an evening in a Cardiff café, an elderly gentleman seated next to them, who introduced himself as Ben Sloggs, had overheard their quiet conversation about a perspective home. Mr. Sloggs told them of a lovely sounding home that he had shared with his wife until her death several years before and had been considering finally letting the property go and was willing to meet with them over the weekend if they were willing to have a look for themselves.  
  
Harry and Ginny travelled with Mr. Sloggs by train into Manchester and then a bus into the village of Castleton. When they stepped off the bus, Mr. Sloggs had already began at a brisk walk up the high street without a word to either of them about direction before turning off onto a dirt driveway after about half a mile of walking. After another five minutes of walking, the three breasted a hill looking down into a glen of trees that surrounded a two-story farmhouse that had been painted a rusty red with white trim with two sheds out back behind the home before it opened in a large field.  
  
“Well, there she is,” Mr. Sloggs said sounding a bit out of breath. “I spent some nice years with me wife up til she died. The two buildin’s out back you see thar, one is a work shed and the other is a small barn I had built for me grankids filled with playthings before they got too old for such things. It ain’t much, but it has got itself four bedrooms and two and a half baths and from what you’ve toll me about expecting yerselves some little’uns your gonna need them rooms!” he finished with a cackling laugh that reminded Harry of Mad-Eye Moody.   
  
With a motion of his arm, he led them down into the tree-circled dooryard of the farmhouse. As they made their way onto the porch, the old settled himself on the porch swing after unlocking the front door and moving aside to let them in.  
  
“You two knock yerselves out and do as much lookin’ as you’d like. I think I’ll sit out here and enjoy the breeze and leave you ter have a look around in peace.”  
  
Ginny slipped her hand into Harry’s as they crossed the threshold for the first time. The entry hallway led in a straight line back to the kitchen that was attached to a large dining area. The kitchen offered Muggle appliances along with a large stone fireplace that was the perfect size to have connected to the Floo Network. Leaving the kitchen Harry turned into what was very large but bare family room. The room was empty except for a wooden rocker that Ginny cooed over as being perfect to use for nursing. The room was wallpapered with a soothing green ivy print paper that drew your eyes to the red brick fireplace on the far side of the room. Opposite the fireplace was a large bay window that would let in the setting sun.  
  
From the family room, they moved into a small bedroom painted a soft blue with little yellow stars and silver moons around the edge of the ceiling like a border. Adjacent to the bedroom was a half-bath. After having a quick peek into the small bath, they were headed toward the stairs.  
  
“You know, I think that room would be perfect for Ron and Hermione if they ever decide to stay with us after they drop by for a visit,” Harry said as they started up the stairs.  
  
“Or a Second nursery,” Ginny said with a wicked smile.  
  
“I like the way you are thinking,” he replied pulling Ginny to his chest and placing a soft, but passionate kiss on her lips, his hands going from her waist to her hair as if by instinct.  
  
By the time Harry and Ginny finally made their way upstairs, they had silently agreed between themselves that this was the perfect place to start their lives together, and with a bit of paint and new furnishings this place would be home. The rooms upstairs were all bedrooms except for a master bathroom and a bath between the bedrooms across the hall.  
  
“Oh, I love how the sun comes in through this window!” Ginny exclaimed when they entered the room directly across from the master bedroom. “I want this to be the girls’ room!”  
  
“With a bit of paint this will be the perfect room for them, love.” Harry agreed, slipping his arms around her waist from behind.  
  
Leaving the home, they headed out to the two sheds, which were not set too far away from the house. A quick look in the work shed was all they took before moving on to the barn Mr. Sloggs had said been built as a playhouse for his grandkids. As Harry pulled open the sliding door, Ginny let out a small gasp of surprise at what they had found inside. The interior of the barn was set up like an inside playground. It was an all season, rain or shine play area for the girls when they were old enough sit up or crawl on their own.  
  
Walking around the side of the home hand in hand, they found Mr. Sloggs dozing on the porch swing. With a gentle shake, Harry awakened the man and began to talk about what he wanted for the home. It only took Harry and Mr. Sloggs half an hour to come to a deal for the property and made a date to meet at his attorney’s office by mid-week. Mr. Sloggs handed Harry the keys to the home since it was going to be theirs and told them to take as long as they would like at the home as he was tired, and made his way back towards the village proper after a quick handshake from Harry and a hug from Ginny.  
  
“Well, it looks as if we are going to really have a home of our own, Gin,” Harry said slipping his arms around her waist once again and looking up at the house from the front yard.  
  
Ginny nodded her head as she leaned into his embrace feeling as if everything she had ever dreamed of was finally coming true.

 


	19. More Than Words

**Chapter 19: More Than Words**  
 

Ron sat on Hermione’s couch with his feet propped on her coffee table scanning through the copy of _Witch Weekly_ that had Harry’s interview in it. He had had the house to himself most of the day with Harry and Ginny off house hunting and Hermione off doing an errand. He had woken up late since there was little noise in the house and had fixed himself a late breakfast of four large sausages, half a dozen eggs, and several pieces of toast before lazing about on the sofa for the remainder of the time. After his talk with Hermione earlier in the week about his antics on New Year’s Eve he had been on his best behaviour when Ginny started her normal antics of trying to take the mickey out him at any given time. 

 

Hearing a noise from the kitchen prompted him to drop his feet to the floor, knowing Hermione would go spare if she caught him sitting that way. He entered the kitchen in time to see Hermione step out from the fireplace, dusting away the ashes from her jumper and skirt.

 

“I see you’ve decided to remove yourself from the sofa, Ron,” Hermione teased when she spotted him in the doorway. “Is it time to refill your stomach?” 

 

“No,” he replied sitting down at her little breakfast table with a sheepish grin on his face. “I’ve just had something on my mind for the past few days and I wanted to talk it over with you.”

 

“You want to talk to me about something?” Hermione asked sounding shocked. 

 

“Yeah, is it a bad time?”

 

“No, it’s just that you normally wait until you’re ready to explode before coming to me to talk about something, Ron.”

 

“It isn’t anything like that, Hermione, I just have…well…I want to talk with you about Harry and Ginny,” he mumbled out.

 

“All right, I’ll listen, Ron, but it isn’t going to do much good if it is just going to be a string of complaints,” Hermione said sitting down next to him.

 

“It’s not a string of complaints, just a fear I want to get off my chest, I guess you could say,” Ron said pausing long enough for Hermione to nod her head to go on. “Well, do you think Harry and Ginny are rushing into things a little fast?”

 

“No,” Hermione replied. “And I’ll tell you why, Ron, because even when Harry went into hiding, all Ginny could think about was him, and I’m sure if you asked Harry he would tell you the same thing.”

 

“But that still doesn’t answer my question.”

 

“OK, look at it this way, Ron,” she explained now looking at Ron seriously. “Harry and Ginny have had a special type of bond between them since he saved her down in the Chamber of Secrets in our second year. Though he never came out and said he fancied her even then, you could tell it was there in his eyes when he looked at her. Also, in the way he treated her when she had her horrible crush on him for so many years by never teasing her or drawing attention to the things she did when he was around her.”

 

“He never said anything to me about Ginny!”

 

“Of course he wouldn’t Ron,” Hermione said exasperated. “You would have flown off the handle at him for even thinking about your _baby_ sister that way!”

 

“OK, I was a bit immature in school-”

 

“What about now?” Hermione asked. “Do you not recall a few months ago when I walked in on you berating Ginny for wanting to be with Harry, something that she has wanted her whole life?”

 

“Well…that was…it was-”

 

“Look, Ron, I’ve given you the benefit of the doubt the past few months and you have gotten better at your temper, but something tells me if I weren’t around you wouldn’t have tried to patch things up between them and yourself.”

 

“I would have tried,” Ron said quietly. “I was just upset that she had someone and I didn’t.”

 

“You are so thick-headed, Ron, that it isn’t even funny!” Hermione said getting up from the table and heading out of the kitchen.

 

“What did I do?”

 

“You want to know what?” she answered stopping in the doorway. “I’ve done everything, but dance in front of you naked with a sign that says, ‘Ron, I want you’, and it seems the more I try to show you I care, the more you just push me away!”

 

“I’ve told you I love you, ‘Mione and I do!”

 

“I need more than words, Ron; I need for you to show me you love me along with you telling me!”

 

“What do you mean I haven’t shown you that I love you?”

 

“OK, what about the day when Harry and Ginny left us alone at the Burrow when we were arguing over nothing as usual, and you took me in your arms, you held me and kissed me!” Hermione replied, tears now running down her cheeks. “I thought that things had finally changed with you when Harry came back and you saw how happy he was with finally getting his chance with Ginny, and you did those things to me, but later on you showed no intent on continuing your pursuit with me, Ron.”

 

“I’m sorry, Hermione, I should have had my attention on you, instead of trying to keep an eye on Harry and Ginny.” Ron said walking over to where Hermione stood. “It is a mistake that I do not intend on making again.”

 

Ron drew Hermione into his arms, her head leaning into his shoulder where he could feel her tears seeping into the cloth of his shirt. Sliding one arm from around her neck he let it drop to her waist, pulling her as close as possible, while running his fingers through her hair with the other. Sliding his hand from her hair, he placed it under her chin bringing her eyes to his.  

 

“Hermione, from this moment on I swear to keep my attention on you and not what others are doing,” he said softly before bringing his lips to hers. 

 

The moment their lips touched, Ron felt regret over what he had been missing by not allowing Hermione to get too close to him. Regret was replaced by a sense of longing, and desire for the woman he held in his arms. Hermione’s arms went around his neck forcing their kiss deeper and more passionate. His hand fell from her hair and over her left breast, which she covered with her own with a small moan of pleasure. Hermione’s hands fell to buckle of Ron’s belt and began to tug it open. Ron, now kneading her breast, continued to kiss her passionately.  

 

“I’ve waited too long, Ronald,” Hermione mumbled between kisses. “I want you to take me now.”

 

“What, here?” he asked stupidly.

 

“Yes.” she hissed pulling his lips back to hers.

 

Slowly Ron began backing her towards the little breakfast table. When her thighs made contact with the table, she scooted back into a sitting position, never breaking their kisses. Pulling Ron close to her once again, she went back to unbuckling his belt, continuing on to the snap of his jeans, once the belt was out of her way. Unzipping his pants, she let them fall, revealing boxers that were the bright orange of his favourite Quidditch team, and then placed her arms back around his neck and pulled him down over her.

 

*~*

 

Harry and Ginny stepped out into the bright winter sunshine on a Muggle street in London, Harry clutching a packet of paperwork containing the deed and full set of keys to the farmhouse in Castleton under his arm. Linking hands, they headed down a small side street that ran down beside the barrister’s office they had just left, and Apparated to the porch of their new home. 

 

“Well, this is our home now, Gin.” Harry said with a touch of excitement in his voice, before putting his arms around her waist and spinning her around causing her to giggle. 

 

“Harry, please stop!”

 

“I don’t think I’ll ever tire of seeing you smile like that,” he replied, placing a kiss on her forehead, and sitting down on the porch swing, pulling her down into his lap.

 

“As long as you’re with me, Harry, I’ll always have a smile,” Ginny said rubbing her nose against his. “You know, I was thinking, what if we got Ron and Hermione over to see our home and maybe start doing some of what we want done to make it completely ours?” 

 

“Sounds fine to me, always assuming they haven’t argued each other to death over the past few days, that is.”

 

“Who knows? Maybe they had quite the time while we were gone.”

 

“Doubtful, Gin,” Harry said slipping his arms around her waist. “But it is something we can definitely hope for.”

 

“Well, what are we doing just sitting here talking about it when we can just Apparate there check on them, and then drag them back with us!”

 

Harry nodded his head and stood, lifting Ginny into his arms, bringing her bought of giggles back on, and then Apparated them both onto Hermione’s back porch. As he sat Ginny on her feet, a crash from inside the kitchen caught Harry’s attention. Pulling his wand, he told her to stay outside as he rushed inside ready for whatever he might find.

 

“Bloody hell,” Ron yelled tripping over a knocked aside chair, and falling flat on his back while trying to yank up his pants. “Can’t anyone knock?!”

 

“I…thought something…well…was going on,” Harry answered walking back out on the porch and closing the door to give Ron and Hermione a moment to fix their appearance. 

 

“There bloody well was something going on!”

 

“Keep quiet, Gin,” he whispered trying to keep her from laughing aloud at what he had just burst in on. “It’s bad enough I kicked the door in on them!”

 

“I can’t help it, Harry,” Ginny said trying to stifle her laughter. “But it’s so just funny to me that they were doing exactly what we were hoping they would be doing!”

“You aren’t going to let him live this down are you?”

 

“No, but I’m going to let it go until I can let Fred and George in on this little moment in our little Ronniekins’ life!”

 

‘Great!’ Harry thought as Hermione opened the door to let them in. ‘Fred and George are going to have a field day with Ron at the reception!’


End file.
